STF has a majority to reject appeal and keep Moro Defendant for slander to Gilmar Mendes

The First Class of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) formed a majority to reject Senator Sergio Moro’s appeal (Union-PR) against the complaint offered by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) against him, who is accused of slander to Minister Gilmar Mendes.

The trial began this Friday at the Virtual Plenary of the First Class and is scheduled to extend until October 10th. Most ministers followed the rapporteur, Minister Cármen Lúcia.

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The criminal action was opened after the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) pointed out that Moro falsely attributed to the minister the practice of passive corruption. The episode that motivated the complaint occurred at a June party in 2022, when the former Lava-Jato judge appears on a video saying that a habeas corpus could be “bought” by Gilmar Mendes. The recording was made by third parties and released on social networks.

In the complaint accepted in June 2024, the PGR argues that Moro acted with the intention of “tarnishing the magistrate’s image and objective”, trying to disbelief his performance in the Court. If sentenced to more than four years in prison, the senator may lose his mandate.

Cármen Lúcia was unanimously accompanied by the other members of the first class by making Moro defendant. The board also includes Minister Cristiano Zanin, who had clashes with his former judge during Operation Lava-Jato, while acting as a lawyer of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT).

Moro’s defense, conducted by lawyer Luís Felipe Cunha, maintains that the senator had no intention of offending the minister and that he was an “unfortunate joke” taken from context. Cunha also states that the video was edited in a “mean” way by third parties.