In the midst of a historic crisis in the STF - Federal Supreme Court, the President of the Court defended this Friday (4) the end of the fake news investigation. This case has been open for seven years, under the report of Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
Also this Friday (4), Luiz Edson Fachin decided that Alexandre de Moraes' request against André Mendonça will be processed in a separate investigation.
The president of the STF removed Alexandre de Moraes' request to investigate André Mendonça from the fake news inquiry. This investigation was opened in 2019 by the then President of the Supreme Court, Dias Toffoli. The objective was to investigate attacks on the STF and its members, and from the beginning the rapporteur was Minister Alexandre de Moraes. In these seven years, the investigation has been successively extended and its objective has been greatly expanded, which has led to it being criticized by several jurists.
This Friday (4), Fachin gave five working days for the Attorney General's Office to comment on Moraes' request for Mendonça to be investigated. The PGR will also have to evaluate the regularity of the material produced by the PF. After the response, Minister André Mendonça will also have five days if he wants to comment.
On Thursday (3), Fachin had already opened a procedure in the presidency of the Supreme Court aimed at clarifying the disclosure of Daniel Vorcaro's messages sent to Alexandre de Moraes, during the Master bank crisis, and the actions of the Federal Police and the PGR. In this case, ministers Mendonça and Moraes, in addition to the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, and the Director General of the PF, Andrei Rodrigues, also have five days to speak out. With the two decisions, Fachin brought the institutional management of the crisis to the presidency of the Court.
On Thursday (3), when asking for the investigation of André Mendonça, Moraes used reports from the Federal Police which, according to him, would indicate that Mendonça had directed investigations for personal and political reasons and committed crimes such as abuse of authority and breach of impartiality as a judge.
Amid the unprecedented crisis in the Supreme Court, Fachin talks about giving a firm and proportionate response — Photo: Jornal Nacional/ Reproduction
But, in one of the documents presented by Alexandre de Moraes, the Federal Police states that “the intelligence report that supported the demonstration has restricted dissemination, has no decision-making nature and no probative value", and that "it does not investigate conduct, does not impute a criminal, disciplinary or functional infraction to a magistrate, a member of the Public Ministry or the police authority, does not convey a judgment on the validity of judicial decisions and does not replace the proper procedural route of challenge".
On a social network, minister Flávio Dino spoke about the crisis. Without citing Moraes or Mendonça, he said:
"The STF is bigger than anyone who is part of it. Therefore, institutional loyalty requires facing real problems, with due legal process and at the right time."
Later, in a ceremony at Palácio do Planalto, the president of the STF spoke publicly about the crisis. Before the President of the Republic and representatives of the Three Powers, Edson Fachin stated that no authority is above the Constitution:
"I ask permission, Mr. President, for a brief statement about the moment experienced by the Federal Supreme Court. The facts are being investigated. This presidency will follow the procedures established by the Constitution and legislation. We will do what is right in the time and in the way that the legal order requires. The institutions of the Republic need to be preserved, especially in moments of greatest tension. No authority is above the Constitution. No Power is above the law and no circumstantial interest can override the integrity of the democratic Rule of Law."
Fachin balanced between two messages: he will not anticipate conclusions or leave the crisis unanswered:
"The gravity of the facts does not authorize shortcuts. On the contrary, the greater the challenge, the greater the commitment to legality, due process and constitutional guarantees must be. There will be no precipitation, but neither will there be omission. The institutional response will be firm, proportional and rigorous."
Fachin cited the changes he has been defending to the Court:
“Recent events demonstrate the correctness and urgency of three goals of our management: the adoption of a code of ethics, the end of the fake news investigation and the modernization of the Justice system”.
