Toffoli denies suspending the removal of Wilson Witzel | Rio de Janeiro

Witzel was dismissed by Minister Benedito Gonçalves, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), on August 28. Since then, the outgoing governor has turned to the STJ himself and the STF.

On the last day 2, the Special Court of the STJ decided, by 14 votes to 1, to keep Witzel away (remember in the video below).

Witzel’s absence is valid for 180 days and was determined at the request of the PGR in Operation Tris In Idem, which investigates irregularities and deviations in health. Witzel denies the charges.

Arguments for Witzel’s defense

The governor’s lawyers told the STF that Minister Benedito Gonçalves presented his decision to the Specialized Court of the STJ, “without even giving the defense the floor, in the oral argument.”

They also say that they have not yet had a chance to present their arguments. In practice, the lawyers want Witzel to return immediately to command of the state government.

In the decision, Toffoli affirmed that the decision of the Special Court, which confirmed the removal of the governor of Rio, completely superseded the individual decision of Minister Benedito Gonçalves.

Then, Toffoli understood, there was no longer any reason for the action to continue. “This substantial change in the legal-procedural framework, initially presented, led, as a result of the precedents, to the supervening loss of the procedural interest,” he wrote.

For the president of the STF, the action in the Supreme Court also became unfeasible because there is the possibility of appealing before the STJ itself.

Still in the decision, he affirmed that he always considered possible, as a result of the STF’s understandings on the subject, the possibility of decreeing and extending said license. For Toffoli, this applies as long as certain criteria are followed, such as the order is based on specific items and is not undefined.