STF begins to judge Eduardo Bolsonaro for coercion in a process; watch

The STF (Supreme Federal Court) began this Tuesday afternoon (16) the trial of former federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL), accused by the PGR (Attorney General's Office) of coercion during the process.

According to the PGR's accusation, Eduardo would have worked with United States authorities and parliamentarians to pressure the American government to adopt measures against STF ministers and against Brazil itself.

The First Panel of the Court begins the trial with the reading of the case report by Minister Alexandre de Moraes. Then, the PGR will have one hour to defend the arguments in favor of the former deputy's conviction.

Afterwards, it will be the turn of Eduardo's defense, constituted by the DPU (Union Public Defender's Office), to speak out. The defender will also have one hour for oral argument.

According to the complaint presented by the PGR, the objective of the former parliamentarian's actions would be to embarrass members of the Court and interfere in investigations related to anti-democratic acts and the attempted coup d'état through the articulation of international sanctions, including the Magnitsky Law.

The defense, in turn, states that the then parliamentarian's demonstrations are protected by freedom of expression and political activity abroad.

Former deputy did not hire a defense
Since the beginning of the process, Eduardo has been ignoring the progress of the action. Resident in the United States since last year, the former deputy did not hire a lawyer for the case, causing the DPU to take over the process.

He also failed to attend the STF's videoconference interrogation, an event normally used for the defendant's self-defense.

Last week, the DPU tried to postpone the analysis of the case and raised doubts about the composition of the panel responsible for the trial.

The request was to summon a minister from another group to complete the collegiate quorum. The body argues that the vacancy opened on the board since the departure of minister Luiz Fux harms the judgment and leaves room for a tie in the vote.

When analyzing the request, Moraes stated that the STF's jurisprudence is firm in the sense that the absence of a member of the class does not prevent the trial from taking place. The minimum quorum, according to the rules, is three ministers.

Moraes also said that one less member in the class does not pose any harm to the defense, since a tie in criminal cases makes the decision most favorable to the defendant prevail.

*Under the supervision of Renata Souza

Source: CNN