Federal Superior Court Confirms Witzel’s Suspension as Rio de Janeiro Governor
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s Federal Superior Court (STJ) has maintained Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel removed from his office until February next year. Of the 15 Special Court judges on the panel hearing Witzel’s appeal, 14 voted in favor of removing the Governor from office.
To remove a governor, the votes of at least two-thirds of the judges on the panel are required. Only one judge voted against suspension. Former lower court Judge Witzel was accused by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of having been involved in a massive scheme to divert health funds during the pandemic. He was removed from office on Friday through a controversial individual decision by STJ Judge Benedito Gonçalves.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the judges noted that the complaint contained information that the governor’s wife, Helena Witzel, had received some R$500,000 (US$100,000) from companies that provide services to the Rio de Janeiro government. The prosecutors charge that this amount was paid to the governor as a bribe, since he recently changed the property sharing regime in his marriage from partial community to universal community. Some of the crimes for which Witzel is under investigation by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office are money laundering, embezzlement, and involvement in a criminal organization.
When the hearing was nearing its end, Witzel said on Twitter: “I respect the Superior Court of Justice’s decision. I understand the magistrates’ conduct in view of the gravity of the facts presented. But I reiterate that I have never committed illicit acts.” He also stated that he has not received any amounts embezzled from the public coffers and that he will continue working in his defense.
In addition to the rapporteur of the case, Benedito Gonçalves, Judge Francisco Falcão also voted to remove Witzel. He said: “It is impossible that anyone should continue to hold such an important position as head of the state of Rio de Janeiro, the second most important state in the Federation”. Another was Judge Mauro Campbel, who agreed with the governor’s removal, but complained about the way it was done.
“The reported facts were terrible. But the democratic space demands a collegiate decision,” said this judge. Judge Sergio Kukina considered that Witzel should be imprisoned rather than removed from office, given the seriousness of the facts. His opinion was not accepted by the other members of the Court.
Only Judge Napoleão Nunes Maia was against his removal. He stated that the Court is embracing a surge of “unbridled punitivism” and that it would be up to the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro to handle the removal, not the Judiciary. “We are not taking due consideration of constitutional guarantees,” said Nunes Maia.
Friday’s decision on the removal was striking due to its promptness, based on a denunciation in a plea bargain endorsed by only one STJ judge. Some criticized it for considering that there are only two options for removing a governor: through impeachment, a process still underway in the Rio Legislative Assembly, or if a complaint (formal indictment) is accepted by an STJ collegiate body.
This Wednesday’s collegiate decision was criticized by experts. “The STJ’s decision confirms a trend that has been seen in the Brazilian Judiciary. That of confirming the exception as a rule,” assessed attorney Guilherme Amorim Campos da Silva, professor at Uninove. According to him, the Judiciary violates the rule in which it is the prosecutors’ task to prove the defendants’ guilt, and not the latter to prove their innocence.
Supreme Court action
Among lawyers active in the Brasília power circles there was a perception that Benedito’s decision was influenced by political factors surrounding both the command of investigations into the alleged kickback scheme attributed by prosecutors to Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and the dispute over future appointments to the Federal Supreme Court.
In the first case, the governor in office in Rio will choose the future State Prosecutor General in December, the head of the State Prosecutor’s Office who will be ultimately responsible for bringing charges against President Jair Bolsonaro’s firstborn son in the local Court of Appeals. Witzel is an ex-Bolsonaro supporter, who severed ties with the President since announcing that he was interested in running for President in 2022, after less than a year in office.
As for the appointment to a Federal Supreme Court seat, STJ judges have been working to be seen as potential candidates. By 2022 two positions will open. Among the “candidates” are the current STJ Chief Judge Humberto Martins, and former Chief Judge João Otávio de Noronha. Judge Benedito Gonçalves,, who decided against Witzel, was considered by some lawyers as a potential candidate, but the Court’s staff have reported that he just turned 66 and, therefore, exceeded the age limit to assume a position in the STF.
STF places are only open to candidates between 35 and 65 years of age. And, at 75, a Justice is required to retire. This will be the case of Justice Celso de Mello this November, followed by Justice Marco Aurélio Mello in July 2021. Augusto Aras, the Federal Prosecutor General, is yet another supposed candidate to the Supreme Court position.
In addition to the STF positions, Bolsonaro will also appoint two judges to the STJ, upon the compulsory retirements of Judge Napoleão Nunes Maia in December, and Félix Fischer in August 2022. The STJ is the court in charge of judging governors and, in most criminal cases, ultimately serves as a third appellate court for non-Constitutional legal questions. Among the cases it has recently analyzed are those involving ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On Tuesday, the magistrates denied seven of eight petitions by Lula’s defense counsel.
With Witzel’s removal confirmed, Vice Governor Claudio Castro will assume the post. One of his first steps was a rapprochement with the Bolsonaro clan. Over the early days of his administration, he highlighted on his social media that he had received a call from Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. And he advocated dialogue.
However, Castro himself is under investigation for the same criminal scheme the removed governor is charged with heading. The investigations have not yet been completed by the prosecutors.
Source: El País
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