The defense will appeal the STJ's decision: we will seek Lula's acquittal.
Lawyer Cristiano Zanin, who defends former president Lula, stated that he will appeal the decision of the Fifth Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) to seek the former president's acquittal; "It is not possible to identify any official act that the former president committed regarding an undue advantage," he emphasized; for Zanin, however, the reduction of the sentence from 12 years and 1 month to 8 years and 10 months demonstrates that the Court recognized that the sentence applied in the second instance "was abusive."
247 - Former President Lula's defense lawyer, Cristiano Zanin, stated that he will appeal the decision of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), which upheld the conviction but reduced the sentence from 12 years and 1 month to 8 years and 10 months for the alleged crimes of passive corruption and money laundering in the triplex case.
Zanin said he respects the decision, but that the defense disagrees with the outcome and will appeal to seek Lula's acquittal.
"It is not possible to identify any official act that the former president may have committed in order to obtain an undue advantage," Zanin emphasized, referring to the main basis of the accusation against the former president.
Former judge Sérgio Moro's sentence condemned Lula for the alleged practice of "indeterminate acts," conduct that does not exist in the penal code. Moro cites as a reference rulings from an intermediate court in the United States that defended the configuration of the crime of corruption without the need to prove an official act by a public agent.
However, when analyzing the defense's appeal (motion for clarification), Moro acknowledged that he had never identified any value from Petrobras contracts destined for Lula, as his defense had always claimed, but, despite this, he upheld the conviction.
Regarding the trial, Zanin emphasized that the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) recognized that the sentence applied in the second instance, by the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region, was "abusive".
Read the full note:
Note from lawyer Cristiano Zanin Martins, from the defense team of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva:
"We respect the position presented today (April 23) by the Ministers of the STJ, but we express the Defense's disagreement with the outcome of the trial, as we believe that the only possible outcome is the acquittal of former President Lula because he did not commit any crime."
We believe the Court resorted to formalities inapplicable to the specific case and failed to conduct an effective examination of the merits, as sought by the appeal. There are no legal elements to establish the crimes imputed to Lula.
We also regret that the Defense was not authorized to participate in the trial through oral argument. The constitutional guarantee of full defense must prevail over any provision of the Court's Internal Regulations. This understanding was recently affirmed by the Supreme Federal Court when it admitted the possibility of oral argument in an appeal filed in a habeas corpus proceeding.
On the other hand, we cannot fail to note that at least one step has been taken to address the abuses committed against former President Lula by Lava Jato. For the first time, a court has recognized that the sentences handed down by former judge Sérgio Moro and the TRF4 were abusive.
It's not much. But it's a start.
We hope that the bodies that will still rule on the case will help to restore the full rule of law in our country, because this presupposes Lula's acquittal and the restoration of his full freedom.
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23 APRIL 2019