After a run of draws in Second Class, Fachin proposes to discuss a rule that benefits the accused | Politics

The proposal was made during a session of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court, after two sentences that, by ending in a tie, benefited those investigated (look down). The class ministers decided that the topic will be taken to the plenary session of the STF.

According to the internal regulations of the Supreme Court, if there is a tie in the habeas corpus analysis or resources in criminal actions, the thesis that is most favorable to the accused wins.

Fachin proposes that this understanding be restricted to habeas corpus, and that in other cases the trial be postponed until the restoration of the total quorum of the class, which is unique and, therefore, makes it difficult to tie the score.

Classes are made up of five ministers each, but a tie can occur when one of the ministers is absent, for example. This is the case of the Second Panel, which is without the participation of the dean of the Court, Minister Celso de Mello.

Mello is on sick leave, recovering from surgery. The class can continue to analyze processes but, with an even number of votes, it is subject to a tie in the trials.

In recent months there have been at least nine ties in cases linked to the Lava Jato operation. In late August, a divided trial benefited money changer Paulo Roberto Krug. By 2 to 2, the ministers annulled a process tried by Minister Sérgio Moro, in the Banestado case.

This Tuesday, the criminal action against the Minister of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) Vital do Rêgo was suspended for the same score: two votes in favor and two against.

Subsequently, the ministers began to analyze an appeal of the defense of the deputy Marcos Pereira (Republicans-SP) against the decision of the Electoral Court that closed an investigation for electoral crimes and referred the case to the Federal Court.

It is suspected that Marcos Pereira received R $ 7 million from Odebrecht in 2014 to sell the PRB’s support for the campaign for the re-election of Dilma Rousseff.

The trial ended in a tie and, with this, the appeal was accepted, returning the case to the Electoral Court.

Next, Minister Edson Fachin presented a point of order and proposed that, in such cases, the trial be postponed until the collegiate’s recovery.

“Faced with such a scenario, with due respect to the collegiate body, for the sake of the legal certainty expected from the jurisdictional pronouncements, I propose the overestimation of the proclamation of this result so that the tiebreaker vote is timely,” he said.

The new understanding would be valid in the event of a tie in criminal proceedings and would have effects, for example, when there are ministers with a license, that is, when the quorum is incomplete.

The change, as proposed by Fachin, would not affect habeas corpus cases and writs in habeas corpus, which discuss the freedom to come and go and, therefore, are considered urgent.

Fachin even suggested that Marcos Pereira’s case should already be postponed. The president of the Second Panel, Gilmar Mendes, preferred to keep the result and refer the debate to the plenary. Mendes did not rule out that it was necessary until he changed the STF letter to address the problem.