By 4 votes to 1, the Fourth Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) sentenced the former attorney for Operation Lava Jato Deltan Dallagnol to pay R$ 75,000 in moral damages to former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. 
The collegiate judged an appeal by the ex-president’s defense against lower-level decisions that rejected the request for compensation for the content of a press conference, held in 2016, in which the ex-prosecutor disclosed the complaint presented. in Operation Car Wash.
Cristiano Zanin, Lula’s lawyer, questioned Deltan Dallagnol’s functional conduct. According to him, the former prosecutor and other members of Lava Jato used a Power Point presentation to accuse the former president of acting as “commander and conductor of a criminal organization”.
For the facts, the lawyers asked for the payment of R$ 1 million in moral damages. Zanin also highlighted that the complaint was recently filed by the Justice and occurred after the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that considered former judge Sergio Moro a suspect to try the former president.
When judging the issue, the rapporteur of the case, Minister Luis Felipe Salomão, voted in favor of the conviction and mentioned that the prosecutor used discrediting terms and non-technical language in relation to the former president.
“The conduct of the defendant to characterize the now appellant top commander of the corruption scheme and conductor of the criminal organization, as well as announcing the imputation of facts that were not included in the object of the complaint, is inadequate, evidencing the abuse of the right, ” said the rapporteur.
Salomão concluded for the payment of compensation in the amount of R$ 75 thousand, which can exceed R$ 100 thousand after interest and corrections. The vote was followed by ministers Raul Araújo, Marco Buzzi and Antonio Carlos Ferreira. Minister Isabel Gallotti disagreed with the rapporteur.
Defense
Lawyer Márcio Pereira de Andrade, representing the former attorney, rebutted the defense’s arguments and said that the press conference was aimed at clarifying legal issues about the complaint.
Andrade also highlighted that the interview was a unique and punctual event, carried out within the functional attributions. There is an appeal against the decision.
“The interview was granted like so many others that were granted in the context of Operation Car Wash, all with the same objective, to inform the population and account for the actions that were being taken by the Public Ministry at each stage of the criminal operation”, he argued.
