Court will decide whether Moraes was fit to judge Zambelli, says jurist
After the reopening of the extradition case of Carla Zambelli, imprisoned in Italy, the Italian courts must examine Alexandre de Moraes' bias in acting in the trial of the former parliamentarian.
The assessment is by jurist and professor Wálter Maierovitch, in an interview with WW this Wednesday (1st).
The first decision of the Court of Cassation
The Italian Court of Cassation - equivalent to the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court - decided, in its first statement, not to grant Zambelli's extradition. The case involves, on its merits, the alleged invasion, by means of a hacker, of the National Justice Council database.
According to Maierovitch, the court understood that there was no due legal process, as one of the judges acted both in the investigation phase and in the trial. "The court states that there was no due legal process, because one of the judges acted in the investigation, in the process and judged", explained the jurist.
The second extradition request and Moraes' participation
In the second extradition request - related to the possession of a weapon and the illegal embarrassment attributed to Zambelli -, the rapporteur at the STF was Gilmar Mendes. Maierovitch highlighted, however, that Alexandre de Moraes also participated in the collegial trial with one vote.
The central question, according to the expert, is to determine whether Moraes merely followed the rapporteur's vote or whether he exerted influence over the other members of the panel. "The question that remains unanswered is: did Alexandre de Moraes have influence or did he just follow the rapporteur's vote?", stated Maierovitch.
Procedural defect and return to the Italian court
According to the jurist, the Court of Cassation annulled an act of the court of appeal due to procedural defect and ordered the case to be returned for a new trial.
Maierovitch highlighted that the court dealt with the "packaging" of the process - that is, the formal aspects -, without delving into the merits of the extradition. After the defect has been corrected, the case may return to the Court of Cassation on appeal.
What the Italian courts should decide
Maierovitch concluded that, in the new trial, the Italian courts should analyze whether or not Moraes was prevented from participating in the process and whether his actions contaminated the trial.
"They will decide whether Moraes was prevented or not, whether or not he contaminated the process, because he could not participate in the trial in any way, because he was partial", stated the jurist.
The expert also evoked the principle of the appearance of impartiality when mentioning the expression "Caesar's wife", signaling that, regardless of effective influence, Moraes' simple participation in a collegiate body could be enough to raise questions before the Italian court.
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Source: CNN