AP 470: Supreme Court upholds sentence of former Rio congressman.
By unanimous decision, the ministers of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) upheld the sentence of former federal deputy Bispo Rodrigues (PL-RJ), now PR, in the "mensalão" (monthly allowance) case; he was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering.
From Agência Brasil
Brasilia – By unanimous decision, the ministers of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) today (13) upheld the sentence of former federal deputy Bispo Rodrigues (PL-RJ), now PR, in Criminal Action 470, the mensalão trial. He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for passive corruption and money laundering.
Rodrigues' defense argues that there was omission and contradiction in the sentencing. However, according to the president of the Court and rapporteur of the case, Minister Joaquim Barbosa, the request had a "dilatory character" and aimed to postpone the defendant's conviction.
In this session, the justices are analyzing the second motions for clarification filed by ten defendants whose initial appeals were denied in the September trial. If a majority of the justices determine that the appeals served only to delay the execution of the sentences, the immediate imprisonment of some of the convicts could be ordered in today's session.