Supreme Court denies freedom to former congressman Luiz Argôlo.
By unanimous vote, the Second Panel of the Supreme Federal Court on Tuesday denied the defense's request to release former federal deputy Luiz Argôlo (independent), sentenced to 11 years in prison in connection with Operation Lava Jato. Argôlo has been imprisoned since April of last year at the Medical-Penal Complex in Pinhais, in the metropolitan region of Curitiba. He was accused of receiving R$ 1,4 million in bribes from the corruption scheme investigated in the operation.
André Richter – reporter for Agência Brasil
By unanimous vote, the Second Panel of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) today (2) denied a request from the defense to release former federal deputy Luiz Argôlo, sentenced to 11 years in prison by Judge Sérgio Moro. Argôlo has been imprisoned since April of last year at the Medical-Penal Complex in Pinhais, metropolitan region of Curitiba.
During the trial, the rapporteur for Lava Jato, Minister Teori Zavascki, said that investigations showed that the former congressman received payments from money launderer Alberto Yousseff until the days leading up to his preventive detention. Therefore, according to the minister, Argôlo's release would pose risks to the investigation.
The rapporteur's vote was followed by ministers Dias Toffoli, Cármen Lúcia, Celso de Mello, and the president of the panel, Gilmar Mendes.
Argôlo was the third politician convicted in the context of Lava Jato. In the investigations, the former parliamentarian was accused of receiving R$ 1,4 million in bribes from the corruption scheme investigated in the operation.
The defense argued that pretrial detention could be replaced by precautionary measures because the sentence has already been handed down and the former congressman has no way to influence the investigations. The lawyers also stated during the trial that money launderer Alberto Youssef, one of the informants in the Lava Jato corruption scandal, claimed he never passed bribes to Argôlo.