Motta indicates allies that Chamber will follow STF and revoke branch mandate

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), signaled interlocutors that the House must comply with the decision of the Supreme Court and declare the loss of the mandate of Deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ). The former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) was convicted on Thursday for attempted coup, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law and armed criminal organization. In addition to the arrest, the Court determined the immediate loss of the mandate and made him ineligible for eight years after the sentence. The defense can still appeal.

The Supreme expressly defined that branch cancellation should be promoted by order of the Board of Directors of the House, without the need for voting in plenary.

According to allies, Motta has said in reserved conversations that the House will “follow the law” and do not intend to put themselves on a collision route with the Supreme. The assessment is that ignoring the court decision, after the final judgment, could aggravate the tension between the powers.

Still, the theme divides the house. The PL presses so that the cassation is subjected to vote in the plenary, hoping that colleagues save the mandate of branch. Caciques of the subtitle also cite the vote of Minister Luiz Fux, who defended the locking of the criminal action against the deputy, with the argument that the Supreme would have invaded prerogatives of Parliament. Deputy Alfredo Gaspar (Union-AL), rapporteur of appeal dealing with the suspension of branch action, vocalizes this thesis.

The dispute is not only legal, but political. Ramagem is an ally close to the Bolsonaro family and strategic figure in the Rio de Janeiro PL, a state in which the party tries to preserve electoral muscles in the face of the former president’s conviction. Last year, he ran for the city of Rio de Janeiro and had been ventilated to run a place in the Federal Senate. Therefore, part of the bench presses Motta to repeat the gesture adopted in the case of Carla Zambelli (PL-SP).

Condemned by the Supreme Court and arrested in Italy in July, Zambelli is having the right to present a defense at the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) by decision of the Chamber’s presidency, although governing leaders support that this rite would not apply. The maneuver was read as an attempt to reduce wear with the pocket base.

Article 92 of the Federal Constitution states that the loss of office, civil service or elective mandate occurs after a conviction of more than six years of imprisonment. Article 55, in turn, states that, in the event of a final conviction, it is up to the Board of Directors to declare the loss of the mandate. Political judgment, by vote in plenary, only occurs in situations of breach of decorum or parliamentary infractions.

This differentiation has already been the scene of impasses in the past. In 2013, when former deputy Natan Donadon was convicted and arrested by the Supreme, the House decided to take the case to the plenary and maintained the mandate, causing institutional crisis. Months later, the deputies themselves retreated and confirmed the cassation. Since then, it has been consolidated in the legal and political environment the reading that the loss should be automatic, to avoid embarrassment.

In the case of branch, it is expected that the rite will be fulfilled without startles. After the final judgment, the Supreme will formally communicate to the House, and the Board of Directors shall declare the loss. From then on, he will assume the deputy of Rio de Janeiro, the State Secretary of Agriculture, Dr. Flavio.

Despite the pressures, even parliamentarians close to Motta admit that there is no political climate to drag the process as occurs with Zambelli. It is expected that the camera will only chance what the Supreme has already decided.