Brazilian Court Allows Appeals for Political Figures Convicted of Corruption
By SIMON ROMERO
The court ruling allowing the reopening of crucial aspects of the trial
suggested that senior political figures convicted in a vast vote-buying
scheme may not get any hard jail time.
By SIMON ROMERO
Published: September 18, 2013
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s highest court on Wednesday allowed a new round
of appeals in a trial over a vast vote-buying scheme, a decision that
may allow senior political figures in the ruling Workers Party to
maneuver out of hard jail time for their actions in what may be Brazil’s
biggest corruption scandal.
Ending months of suspense, after defendants were found guilty and sentenced to prison
by the same court in November 2012 in what had been celebrated then as a
watershed moment, the justices ruled by 6-5 to reopen crucial aspects
of the trial. So far, no one has gone to prison in the scandal, which
emerged in 2005.
“The move sets a troubling precedent by raising concerns over a domino
effect in many other corruption cases involving powerful figures,” said
Ivar Hartmann, a professor of law at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, a top
Brazilian university.
Even before the trial, it was remarkably rare for politicians in Brazil
to go to prison after being found guilty of crimes like corruption,
kidnapping and employing slave labor, partly because of the special judicial standing
enjoyed by about 700 political figures, including senior cabinet
ministers and all 594 members of Congress. This standing requires their
cases to be heard only in the high court, which is already bogged down
by thousands of other cases each year.
The system produces years of delays in judging politicians charged with
serious crimes. Legal experts said such cases could now drag on
indefinitely after a ruling by the high court justices on Wednesday,
which allowed appeals of their own votes in these trials.
The televised debate over the appeals within the court, the Supreme
Federal Tribunal, produced heated moments in recent weeks. Justice
Gilmar Mendes said the court was inviting mockery as a “juvenile
tribunal of irresponsible people,” while another justice, Ricardo
Lewandowski, argued that the court was merely giving defendants the
right to a new appeal.
Given the delays that have already characterized the trial, the court’s discussion of the appeals could realistically drag on for years, Helenita Acioli, the interim prosecutor general, said this month.
That may benefit figures like José Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva, who was
chief of staff for Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
and sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison for his role in
orchestrating the vote-buying scheme, called the mensalão, or big
monthly allowance, after the regular payments made to legislators in
exchange for their votes.
The appeals involve a rare legal procedure in which close votes on the
high court can be held again. The appeals, which are thought to have
originated in the 16th-century legal system of Portugal, Brazil’s former
colonial ruler, were abolished there in the 1930s. Few Brazilians had
even heard of the appeals until the high court considered them in the
mensalão trial.
While few convictions are expected to be overturned, defendants are
seeking less stringent prison conditions, including arrangements that
allow convicts to leave prison during the day to work. Some legal
experts held open the possibility that some defendants could avoid jail
time altogether if the trial endured long; crimes committed about a
decade ago could be exceeded by the statute of limitations.
“The stain on their reputations remains,” said Matthew M. Taylor, a
scholar at American University in Washington who specializes in Brazil’s
legal system. He said the latest twist in their trial was “more
troubling for what it says about Brazil’s courts and their inability to
effectively and expeditiously tackle widespread corruption within the
political system.”
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