General Braga Netto’s defense presented this Monday (1st) an appeal to the plenary of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) against the execution of the soldier’s conviction in the criminal action for the coup plot.
Sentenced to 26 years in prison, the general is being held in custody at the Vila Militar facilities in Rio de Janeiro. He is a former minister in Jair Bolsonaro’s government and was a candidate for vice president on the ticket on which the former president sought re-election in 2022.
In the appeal, the defense once again asked for Braga Netto’s acquittal and questioned the decision of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who, last week, rejected the last appeals and ordered the execution of the sentence.
According to the lawyers, the understanding that the so-called infringing embargos depend on two votes for acquittal to be analyzed by the Supreme Court’s panels is not provided for in the internal regulations, although it is applied based on the Court’s jurisprudence.
“The internal regulations of this Federal Supreme Court do not make any reference to the minimum number of dissenting votes to allow infringing embargoes against the class’s decision, only recommending that infringing embargoes are applicable to the non-unanimous decision of the plenary or the class”, said the defense.
According to Moraes, in order for the case to be tried again, Braga Netto needed to obtain at least two votes for acquittal, that is, a minimum score of 3 votes to 2 in the trial held on September 11th and which condemned the defendants from Nucleus 1, of which the general is part. However, the soldier was unanimously condemned.
The defense also insisted on the thesis that Braga Netto had no connection with the coup plot – which intended to keep Jair Bolsonaro in the presidency even though he was defeated at the polls.
“The alleged criminal acts attributed to Gen. Braga Netto within the scope of Pet. 12.100/DF occurred in the period from July 2022 to December 2022. In other words, a period in which the appellant no longer held the public position that gave him the prerogative of jurisdiction”, concluded the defense.
It is up to Minister Alexandre de Moraes to decide whether the appeal will be judged by the Court’s plenary.
