In the past week, the Superior Court of Justice based in Brasilia rejected the special appeal filed by the Brazilian Public Ministry, with which he declared the nullity of the process opened to ex-president Horacio Cartes in that country.
According to the background, within the framework of the Pattern Operationa branch of Operation Lava Jato, the Brazilian justice included former president Horacio Cartes, among those allegedly involved with the doleiro Darío Messer, who was arrested by the Brazilian Federal Police in July 2019.
It was at that time that his phone was seized and with his conversations a hypothesis was built. It is important to highlight that the entire investigation was mainly based on the content of the messages of the WhatsApp application and screenshots of conversations that were stored on Messer’s phone.
Nullity of the Process in Brazil (open thread). In May 2021, the Federal Regional Court of Rio de Janeiro, unanimously, decided to grant the Habeas Corpus of “Lockdown” in favor of @Horacio_Cartesannulling the entire process and definitively filing the case. pic.twitter.com/TGw9fL6a2D
– Pedro Ovelar (@PedroOvelarpy) October 20, 2022
From this, the Federal Police submitted a preliminary report of what was found on the phone and requested preventive detention for 17 people, and an investigation for former President Cartes, when a letter that Messer had sent was found there, in which he requested monetary help to pay for the services of your lawyers They were going to represent him in court.
At the same time the Public Ministry of Brazil charged the 18 people mentioned in the documentwithout first conducting an investigation of Cartes, and forwarded the file to the Brazilian judge Marcelo Bretas, who ordered the arrest of them, including former president Cartes, on whom he issued an arrest warrant.
Nullity of the Process in Brazil 2 (open thread) In August 2022, the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil (a “monocratic” decision of the Reporting Minister, that is, of only one of the members) decided not to grant the special appeal presented by the Public Ministry … pic.twitter.com/g8yhyv6z5d
– Pedro Ovelar (@PedroOvelarpy) October 21, 2022
One month after, the Federal Police of Brazil submitted its conclusive report, in which only 17 people were listed, since it excluded Horacio Cartes. The reason was because no indicative elements were found that would indicate it as part of the criminal scheme.
However, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court ignored this final report and kept the first one. In addition to not requesting a rectification from the Federal Police, The Public Ministry of Brazil was also unable to introduce new elements that show evidence that the former Paraguayan president has been involved in illicit activities. Instead, he only dedicated himself to appealing in the different instances in which Cartes’ defense appealed and won in Brazil.
Nullity of the Process in Brazil 3 (I open thread). In previous tweets, I pointed out that the Regional Court of Rio de Janeiro in 2021 granted Habeas Corpus filed by the defense of @Horacio_Carteswhich annuls and archives the entire open process in Brazil.
– Pedro Ovelar (@PedroOvelarpy) October 21, 2022
It was so In May 2021, the Federal Regional Court of Rio de Janeiro, unanimously, decided to grant the Habeas Corpus of “Lockdown” in favor of Cartes, annulling the entire process and filing the case. This decision was appealed by the Brazilian Public Ministry before the Superior Court of Justice of Brasilia (STJ). However, by a single decision of the Rapporteur Minister of that Court, in August 2022 the appeal filed by the Prosecutor’s Office was again rejected.
Nevertheless, the Public Ministry insisted on revoking the ruling in favor of Horacio Cartes, through a “regimental grievance”, in which he requested that the full Court be the one to decide on his approach. Finally, on October 18 of this year, unanimously by its five members, the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil again rejected the approach of the Public Ministry of the neighboring country.
Related note: Case Closed: Brazilian Justice Rejects Tax Proposition on Horacio Cartes
In this way, the Brazilian justice concluded that there was no crime related to the former Paraguayan president, considering that Messer’s $500,000 request for aid was not to peddle influences or hide from justice, but the opposite, it was to cover his legal expenses, considering that his resources were blocked, and this was not constituted in a crime.
One would wonder why both the prosecutors and the court in question were determined to go against the former Paraguayan president despite the fact that there were not enough elements to suspect the existence of any irregular act.
The closeness between Judge Marcelo Bretas and the President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, also arouses suspicion.
In that sense It is important to remember that in 2019, Paraguay had Juan Ernesto Villamayor as its Minister of the Interior, while his counterpart in Brazil was the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Sergio Moro, who had precisely led the Lava Jato operation. Later it was learned that his action was impartial in this case by typing and directing the steps taken by the Prosecutor’s Office in the investigations.
Also arouses suspicion closeness between Judge Marcelo Bretas and the President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez. Through his Twitter account, the Brazilian magistrate on more than one occasion valued and pondered the Paraguayan boss, retweeting his posts or commenting on his posts with messages of encouragement.
Also read: Brazil: The Federal Police did not ask to impute HC, the prosecution wrapped itself in politics and did not investigate
Another closeness that did not go unnoticed is that of Marito with his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro. In July 2019, during the launch of the tender to build the bi-oceanic bridge that will link the cities of Carmelo Peralta with Puerto Murtinho, President Abdo Benítez even highlighted the friendly treatment he received from Bolsonaro. “I get excited when Marito calls me”, were his words.
This good initial relationship between the authorities also occurred between their respective families. Just remember the curious meeting between Eduardo Bolsonaro, federal deputy and son Jair Bolsonaro, and one of the stepsons of President Mario Abdo, the young Félix Ugarte López Moreira. The meeting, held in April 2019, was captured in a snapshot shared by Eduardo Bolsonaro himself, in which he is seen with the Paraguayan visitor making a pistol gesture with his hands.
These are some of the elements that suggest the following question: Was there any interference or direction from Paraguay in Brazil to advance the case that has now been closed?
