Gilmar: Lula's sources are "gangsters" and "bandits"
According to the Supreme Court Justice, the former president is a "central hub for spreading rumors" about his trip to Berlin in 2009, when he met with Senator Demóstenes; Gilmar Mendes presented documents detailing the trip's expenses; and strongly criticized the source of Lula's information; the level has dropped!
247 – Immediately after triggering an institutional crisis by attributing, through the pages of Veja magazine, to former president Lula the direct pressure to postpone the Mensalão trial, Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes further radicalized the situation. In an interview, he described Lula as a "central dissemination hub" for news against him and, as if to show his readiness for a fight, labeled the former president's sources of information as "gangsters" and "bandits." Without a doubt, the level has dropped!
Below is a news article from Agência Brasil about yet another controversial interview given by Minister Gilmar Mendes this Tuesday, the 29th:
Agency Brazil – Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Gilmar Mendes presented today (29) documents from his trip to Germany in April of last year. Mendes showed the documents to journalists before going to the STF Second Panel's judgment session. The papers presented by the Justice show that he was in Europe between April 12 and 25, to participate in an academic event at the University of Granada. The outbound ticket, from Guarulhos (SP) to Granada (Spain), with a connection in Madrid, and the return ticket, Berlin–Frankfurt (Germany)–Guarulhos (SP)–Brasília, were paid for by the STF and cost R$ 16,1.
The documents also show that the return trip to Brazil began in Berlin for the minister's own convenience and that the per diem expenses from April 17th to 25th were not paid by the court. "You know that since 1989 I've been going to Germany all the time, I have a daughter who lives there, I teach there. Go see the tickets issued by the Supreme Court," Mendes justified.
Even while assuring that he did not hitch a ride with Senator Demóstenes Torres (independent-GO), Mendes said he would see no problem in doing so. He recalled that he went to Goiânia twice at the senator's invitation, once with former Supreme Court Justice Nelson Jobim and current Justice Antonio Dias Toffoli, and another time with Toffoli and Superior Court of Justice (STJ) Justice Fatima Andrighi. "Now, why this kind of news? What if I had taken the plane, what if he [Demóstenes] had offered it to me? Did I have any involvement with his alleged wrongdoing?"
The minister attributed responsibility for the dissemination of information about the trip to Europe, which, according to him, is not illegal, to former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. According to Mendes, Lula received this information from "gangsters" and "criminals" interested in spreading fake news.
Asked by journalists if Lula was the source of this news, Mendes replied: "The information I received is that yes, he was the central figure in disseminating this information, the president himself." He added: "My colleagues [journalists] told me this."
Mendes said that the false information claiming he had ties to Demóstenes and the businessman from Goiás, Carlinhos Cachoeira, is an attempt to discredit the Supreme Court, which is about to begin the Mensalão trial. "The objective was to derail the Mensalão trial, to say that the Judiciary is involved in a corruption network. They tried to do this with [Attorney General Roberto] Gurgel and they are doing it now."