Supreme Court convicts congressman, but sentence expires.
Jairo Ataíde, from the DEM party in Minas Gerais, was sentenced to two years in prison, but will not serve the sentence; the congressman was accused of using institutional propaganda for personal promotion three months before the elections; this occurred in 2000, when he was mayor of Montes Claros.
André Richter
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia – The Supreme Federal Court (STF) sentenced federal deputy Jairo Ataíde (DEM-MG) to two years in prison, but the defendant will not serve the sentence because the crime has expired. The congressman was accused of using institutional advertising for personal promotion, three months before the elections. The event occurred in 2000, when the deputy was mayor of Montes Claros (MG) and a candidate for re-election.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the parliamentarian participated in the airing of advertisements on local television stations to highlight the work he did in the city hall. According to the law, institutional advertisements cannot personally praise public officials – mayors, governors, and ministers. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the cost of the advertisement reached R$ 90.
The congressman's lawyer, Castelar Modesto Guimarães Neto, said that Jairo Ataíde was unaware of the orders for the advertisements to be made, because the dissemination of information was done by the municipality's Health Department. "These were impersonal publications, of an informative nature, without any self-promotional character. They concerned programs of the municipality and the federal government. Information about vaccination, dengue control, and selective collection was disseminated," the lawyer explained.
Justice Luiz Fux, the rapporteur for the criminal case, agreed with the arguments presented by the Public Prosecutor's Office and concluded that there was misappropriation of public funds to promote Jairo Ataíde. According to the Justice, the purpose of the advertisements was not to inform the city's population about public services. "In all the advertisements described in the indictment, names, symbols, and images are identified that characterize the personal promotion of the accused," said the rapporteur.
Justice Fux set the sentence at four years and four months in prison under a semi-open regime. His vote was followed by Justice Rosa Weber.
However, most ministers disagreed with Fux's vote and followed the sentencing proposed by Minister Luís Roberto Barroso. He set the sentence at two years in prison and argued that the statute of limitations had expired because the trial took too long. Barroso's vote was followed by Ricardo Lewandowski and Dias Toffoli.
Edited by: Carolina Pimentel