Bolsonaro and AGU meet after STF demands face-to-face testimony on alleged interference with PF | Politics

At 6 pm, the meeting was not over. According to TV Globo, the objective of the meeting was to evaluate possible scenarios if the government decided to appeal the understanding of the rapporteur of the case, Minister Celso de Mello.

The magistrate affirms that Bolsonaro does not have the prerogative to set the time, date and place to provide clarifications, or to present written testimony.

This is because, according to the Dean of the STF, these benefits are only valid for the heads of the powers that appear in the process as witnesses. In the case determined by the PF, the president appears as investigated.

Celso de Mello’s decision does not set a date and time for Bolsonaro’s testimony, which must be scheduled by the Federal Police. The president has the right to remain silent.

The investigation, opened in May, is based on accusations by former Justice Minister Sergio Moro. Bolsonaro denies interference with the FP. The police asked the STF for another 30 days to complete the investigation of the case.

The STF minister also allowed, in this Friday’s decision, that Moro’s defense can accompany the interrogation and ask questions of the president (read below).

Asked about Celso de Mello’s decision, both AGU and Palácio do Planalto said at the end of the morning that they would not comment.

In a recent dispatch, Celso de Mello had already stated that the right to testify in writing and choose a date does not extend “to the person under investigation or to the accused.”

During the investigations, the PF informed the Supreme Court that it wants to hear from the president about the accusations, and Celso de Mello, rapporteur of the investigation, asked the PGR to comment on the request. The PGR defended Bolsonaro’s right to choose to respond in writing.

The Dean of the STF recorded in the document that he made the decision during the period of sick leave, and that this is expressly established by the Organic Law of the Judicial Power.

It should be noted, therefore, that the magistrate, although licensed for health reasons – and as long as there is no medical contraindication (innocent in the species) -, will have the power, without prejudice to the license that he will continue to enjoy, to judge all processes. that have been held, for this purpose, before the start and enjoy the medical license that was granted “.

Celso de Mello is on sick leave until the 26th. The minister’s office clarified that the decision on the deposition had been ready since August 18, when he had to leave for surgery.

The Organic Law of the Judiciary establishes that a licensed magistrate “may issue decisions in cases that, prior to the license, were concluded for sentencing.”

Moro’s defense can go on

Celso de Mello also allowed the defense of the former Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro to accompany the interrogation and ask the president questions, following the STF’s understanding of this type of procedure.

“In this context, I determine that the co-investigated Sérgio Fernando Moro is guaranteed the right, through his lawyers, to be present at the act of interrogation of the President of the Republic to be carried out by the Federal Police, guaranteeing him, in addition , the right to ask questions, if they consider them necessary and pertinent ”.

For Celso de Mello, this represents the broad right of defense.

“Allowing the investigated (or accused) to have formal access to the other co-investigated (or accused), through questions that are addressed to them in the respective interrogations, represents a viable means to exercise the constitutional prerogatives of full defense and of the adversary ”.