Kennedy Alencar: With Lula, the Superior Court of Justice maintains a judicial rigor that deviates from the norm.

247 - In your Blog On Instagram, journalist Kennedy Alencar states that "when it comes to former President Lula, the Justice system acts with a rigor that goes beyond the norm. The 5th panel of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) yesterday made yet another tailor-made decision regarding the cases against the former president."

"When judging an appeal by Lula's defense, the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) reduced the sentence imposed on the Workers' Party member in the case of the apartment in Guarujá. The TRF-4 (Regional Federal Court) of the 4th Region had sentenced Lula to 12 years and 1 month for passive corruption and money laundering. Yesterday, the STJ reduced this sentence to 8 years, 10 months and 20 days. The court rejected other requests from the Workers' Party member's defense, such as sending the case to the Electoral Court and the practical annulment of Sergio Moro's original decision that convicted Lula," it reports. 

Any potential change to a more lenient prison regime for Lula will depend on several factors. The Workers' Party member has already been convicted in another case, the Atibaia ranch case. If there is a conviction in that case at the second instance before the turn of September to October, the sum of the sentences could prevent the change to a semi-open regime – provided that the current understanding of the Supreme Federal Court regarding the application of prison sentences after a second instance decision is maintained.

Another factor is the promised re-examination of this issue by the Supreme Federal Court. If the STF changes its understanding, Lula could benefit even with a possible second conviction in the second instance and the third instance decision of the STJ.

He states that "the president of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Dias Toffoli, defended the thesis of an intermediate vote: imprisonment after a definitive ruling by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). This practically happened yesterday. If there is a change in the STF's jurisprudence to stipulate a decision by the STJ as a requirement to apply a prison sentence, Lula could remain in jail only taking into account the case of the apartment in Guarujá. This case is close to being exhausted in the STJ, as only an appeal for clarification would now be possible for the conclusion of this process in the court."

"But Minister Celso de Mello, for example, has already said that the Federal Constitution is crystal clear. Imprisonment could only occur after a final and unappealable judgment – ​​that is, after all appeals to the Supreme Court have been exhausted. If this hypothesis prevails, Lula could be released." 

He explains that "Toffoli had scheduled the trial to reconsider the possibility of imprisonment after a second-instance decision for April 10, but he backed down, manipulating the agenda as his predecessor, Cármen Lúcia, did. In practice, this manipulation harms Lula. In the recent past, the same tactic helped Aécio Neves (MG), now a federal deputy, and Senator Renan Calheiros (AL)."

"Tailored actions by the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor's Office, such as the swiftness of the TRF-4 in convicting him approximately six months after the decision of then-judge Sergio Moro, reinforce the arguments that Lula is a victim of exceptional procedures. Throughout the proceedings, Lula suffered abusive measures, as understood by a large part of the legal community in Brazil and abroad."