STF makes defendant a woman accused of offending and threatening Flávio Dino on a commercial flight

The First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) unanimously received the complaint filed by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) against nurse Maria Shirlei Piontkievicz. Now a defendant, she is accused of offending and threatening Minister Flávio Dino, of the STF, during a commercial flight on which the magistrate was traveling to Brasília for the first session of the trial of the crucial nucleus of the attempted coup d’état, which includes former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

The trial took place in a virtual session between December 12th and 19th, 2025. The ruling was published in the Electronic Justice Gazette last Friday, 16th. The target of the offenses, Dino, president of the First Panel, declared himself prevented from participating in the analysis of the case.

Ministers Cristiano Zanin and Cármen Lúcia followed the vote of the rapporteur, Alexandre de Moraes, who understood that there was evidence of authorship and proof of materiality. As a result, the accused will be responsible for the crimes of qualified insult, incitement to commit crime and an attack on the safety of air transport.

According to reports collected by the Federal Police (PF), the episode occurred on September 1, 2025, on a flight traveling between São Luís and Brasília. According to the accusation, Maria Shirlei Piontkievicz approached the minister in a “public and vexatious” way, starting to harass him inside the aircraft. As described in the documents, she allegedly said phrases such as “it’s rubbish”, “I’m not going to keep quiet for these types of people” and that the plane was “contaminated”.

The statement also indicates that, excited and with a raised voice, the passenger pointed to the minister’s seat and shouted “it’s Dino, he’s here”, which, according to the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), constituted an attempt to incite the commission of a crime by other passengers.

According to the PF, the woman tried to approach the magistrate with the intention of physical aggression, causing a disturbance and exposing the crew and the aircraft to risk. The situation was contained after the intervention of the minister’s security team and Federal Police agents deployed at the airport.

In the complaint, the PGR stated that it is up to the STF to analyze the case, since the facts are related to the investigations into fake news and digital militias. According to the agency, these investigations investigate the activities of a criminal organization that, since 2019, has used methods to discredit the electoral process, weaken the Democratic Rule of Law and attack the functioning of the Judiciary.

In the response to the complaint filed in October 2025, Maria Shirley Piontkievicz’s defense maintained that the episode has no connection with the fake news investigations or the so-called digital militias, which would remove the STF’s jurisdiction to analyze the case.

The defense also alleged the ineptitude of the complaint, arguing that there was no adequate individualization of conduct or clear correlation between the facts narrated and the types of criminal offenses charged, which would violate the principles of human dignity, due legal process, broad defense and adversarial proceedings.

The defense also stated that there is no just cause for the criminal action, as there would be no minimum proof of materiality or authorship. According to the lawyers, the phrase “Dino is here” would not constitute criminal incitement, as it does not represent a direct incentive to commit any crime.

Furthermore, they maintained that there was no intent or concrete danger to the aircraft, essential requirements for characterizing the crime of attacking the safety of air transport, which would make the conduct atypical.

In view of this, the defense asked for the case to be redistributed to another rapporteur, the complaint rejected and, if the criminal action was maintained, that it should continue only in relation to the crime of insult.

In his vote, Moraes rejected all of the defense’s arguments. The minister stated that the complaint clearly describes the facts and individualizes the accused’s conduct, in addition to presenting sufficient material elements and evidence of authorship.

The rapporteur also understood that there is a connection between the episode and ongoing investigations at the STF regarding fake news and digital militia investigations. As a result, the First Panel decided to receive the complaint in full, making the woman a defendant for the three crimes charged.

The process, which is being processed under secrecy, now moves to the criminal prosecution phase, which involves the production of evidence and the hearing of witnesses for the prosecution and defense. Once this phase is over, the STF will decide whether the defendant will be convicted or acquitted. There is still no set date for the trial of the case.