Intensifying conflict between justices of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court... Confusion in the judiciary increases due to conflict in the decision to suspend the police chief

Justice Dinu 'put the brakes' on Suspension of Chief Justice Mendongsa's police duties

Chief Justice Parchin suspends both Supreme Court justices' decisions

Conflict between left and right justices intensifies... It is likely to have an ‘impact’ on the direction of the October presidential election.

(Mexico City = Yonhap News) Correspondent Gwang-ho Song = Justices of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court clash head-on over the suspension of the federal police chief, increasing confusion within the judiciary ahead of the presidential election.

In particular, as Supreme Court justices appointed by former and current left-wing and right-wing presidents continue to issue conflicting judicial decisions, the Supreme Court is emerging as a 'political variable' that will shake up the presidential election held next month.

As conflict between Supreme Court justices escalated into a ruling, Brazil's Federal Supreme Court Chief Justice Edson Fachin took action to resolve the situation by suspending the effect of conflicting rulings related to the suspension of the police chief.

According to local daily Paulo Sao Paulo and Bloomberg News on the 9th (local time), Justice Flavio Dino overturned the suspension of Federal Police Chief Andrei Rodríguez and Intelligence Director Leandro Almada by Justice Andre Mendonza the day before in one day and ordered their reinstatement.

Previously, Supreme Court Justice Mendonsa suspended the police chief and others from their duties, claiming that the federal police had illegally investigated him and other key public officials.

However, Justice Dinu said in his decision that day, "A party cannot be its own judge and make a preemptive judgment on a police report that explicitly mentions itself," and pointed out that Justice Mendonsa had paralyzed the police investigation due to personal differences and interests.

It is said that when the police investigated him, Justice Mendonsa interrupted the investigation by suspending the highest-ranking police officers from their duties.

The background to this incident, which has escalated into a confrontation between Supreme Court justices, is a deep-rooted conflict among Supreme Court justices surrounding the Master Bank investigation, which arose amid suspicions of financial corruption.

Justice Mendonsa disclosed police investigation data containing a message sent to Justice Alexandre de Moraes by Daniel Borcaro, former chairman of Master Bank, who was arrested while leading the investigation into the Master Bank case. Brazil's Supreme Court justices have enormous authority to initiate and direct investigations depending on the case.

In response, Justice Moraes requested the police to investigate, claiming that Justice Mendonsa had abused his authority. When the federal police carried out this judicial order, Justice Mendonsa responded by suspending the police leadership.

The clash between Supreme Court justices is directly related to the extreme ideological conflict in Brazilian politics.

Justice Moraes led the investigation into allegations of an attempted coup by former President Jair Bolsonaro, drawing backlash from the right-wing camp, and Justice Dino, who overturned Mendonsa's suspension, is a progressive figure appointed by current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Justice Mendonsa is a representative conservative judge who was appointed during the time of former President Bolsonaro.

As severe clashes continued between the Supreme Court Justices, Chief Justice of the Federal Supreme Court Pachin suspended the effectiveness of the rulings made by Justice Mendonsa and Justice Dinu, respectively, regarding the suspension and reinstatement of the National Police Agency.

At the same time, it was decided that Police Chief Rodríguez would remain in his position until further review of this issue was conducted.

Due to the nature of the Brazilian judicial system, which strongly guarantees the exercise of judicial power and independence of individual Supreme Court Justices, it is considered an unusual event in the history of the judiciary for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to directly suspend the effectiveness of conflicting rulings by fellow Supreme Court Justices.

This confrontation between Supreme Court justices is expected to have a significant impact on the Brazilian presidential election held next month. Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, a candidate for the right-wing Liberty Party (PL), is trying to rally the three, saying that the judiciary is biased toward the left and that there are suspicions of corruption. Senator Flavio is the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a prison sentence.