Lula prisoner or at liberty? A battle between the judges that increases confusion and instability in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO.- The Grotesca
Yesterday's court battle around former imprisoned president Luiz Inacio


Lula da Silva
increased
disorientation and instability in


Brazil
when there are barely three months left for some
key presidential elections, which will define the course of the country after the recent years of tumultuous political and economic crisis.

In the press, the badysts coincided by pointing out the negative effects of the Sunday fight in which the service judge intervened from the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4), Rogerio Favreto – who ordered the surprise exit from


Lula
-, the federal magistrate Sergio Moro – who sentenced the exmandatario in the first place for corruption and money laundering last year and questioned the decision of Favreto, the judge of Business instruction Lava Jato in the TRF-4 João Gebran Neto – who dismissed the order of his colleague in the court of appeal – and ultimately the president of this court, Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores, who ordered to keep Lula prisoner and the case under the jurisdiction of Gebran Neto. With the country astonished, the idea of ​​"anarchy" has been installed in the judicial system.

"The hallucinatory sequence of judicial decisions concerning the prison of former President Lula feeds the discredit of the courts and opens the way for those who love confusion," said columnist Ricardo Balthazar in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, referring to the series of events that triggered the opportunistic demand for
habeas corpus presented last Friday at the last minute by a group of legislators of the Workers' Party (PT). "The PT will continue to explore the cracks in the judiciary in favor of Lula, in the hope of increasing the party's electoral chances, if it does not work, the disorder will only serve for his opponents," he said. a judge ordered the release of Lula and triggered a scandal ” style=””/>

Despite three months in prison, Lula continues as a favorite for the October 7 elections, with 30% of voting intentions, far ahead of other candidates. Ultra-right MP Jair Bolsonaro, of the small liberal social party (PSL), ranks second with 17% of preferences, followed by ecologist Marina Silva, Red Sustentabilidad (Rede), with 10%; and on a par with 6% support, former governors Ciro Gomes (Ceará), of the Labor Democratic Party (PDT), and Geraldo Alckmin (San Pablo), of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB). All criticized the unpredictable release order issued by Judge Favreto, a recognized activist in the PT, a former cabinet minister under the Lula government and appointed judge of appeal by his successor,


Dilma Rousseff

The prompt action of Judge Moro, who has left aside his holidays to try to stop Lula's departure from his cell in the Superintendency of the Federal Police in Curitiba, was also much debated. It is a first degree magistrate who ordered the police not to comply with a decision of a judge of second instance. According to badyst José Casado, of the newspaper O 'Globo, the duel between Favreto and Moro undressed a dangerous crisis of the judiciary.

"It presents a real risk to the democratic regime, among other reasons, because it liquefies confidence in the functioning of the judicial system, whose credibility was already corroded by a history of ethical confusion combined with a cost operational high and still obscure, with poor performance for society, "he wrote in the Carioca newspaper

. Football in Russia, the PT lawmakers who filed the writ of habeas corpus in favor of Lula at the end of Friday – knowing that it would fall into the hands of "compañero" Favreto – only intended to attract the attention of the public about the fate of the former president. They were very aware that the TRF-4 collegiate and even the Federal Supreme Court (STF) have already rejected similar resources of Lula's defense. Any win would be short-lived, but would put Lula in the limelight before the start of the election campaign in August, with the official registration of candidates. They also hoped that the unexpected order of Lula's release could generate spontaneous jubilations in the streets and thus increase popular pressure, but that did not happen.

"Probably Lula's defense – the legal and political, who took the leading role in the confusion of Sunday – will appeal to the higher instances to try But the effect of surprise sought by the game of Favreto will no longer be possible in the light of a Monday, "said columnist Vera Magalhães, from the Estado de São Paulo newspaper.

Even though Lula had remained free by the order of Favreto – or be released in the future thanks to the future acceptance of some other habeas corpus – still could not be a presidential candidate in October. The Brazilian Clean Record Act prohibits a person who has been sentenced in a second instance by a collegiate body to be a candidate for an elective office. This is only if the 12-year prison sentence that hangs over the former president was revoked by a decision of the superior courts (Superior Court of Justice or the STF itself), that Lula could enter in the running

insists that he present his candidacy to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) in August. Until then, the "telenovela" of Lula will surely have other episodes, now with new judicial tricks to take advantage of the political crack. "I do not know who missed the most, but who lost was the stability needed for democracy, I worry about the destabilizing effects for the economy of this judicial instability," warned Joaquim Falcão. , professor of law at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro