Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), confirmed this Friday (20) the Court’s jurisdiction to judge former federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro Eduardo Cunha for the alleged crime of corruption.
Cunha is a defendant in a criminal action filed by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in the 10th Federal Court of the Federal District. In October of this year, the former parliamentarian became a defendant on charges of presenting requests to the Chamber of Deputies to force businesspeople from the construction company Schahin to pay undue benefits.
In the appeal presented, the defense claimed that the accusations relate to the period in which Cunha was a federal deputy. Therefore, it is up to the STF to judge the case based on the judgment, which has not yet ended, on the scope of the privileged forum. The lawyers also wanted the decision that made the former deputy a defendant to be annulled.
When judging the case, Gilmar Mendes understood that Cunha’s accusations must be processed in the STF, but denied the defense’s request for the receipt of the complaint by the first instance to be annulled.
“I consider the decision to receive the complaint issued by the judge of first instance to be valid, as well as any acts of citation and notification possibly carried out as a result of this decision”, he decided.
The minister said that the Court’s new understanding of the privileged forum can be applied even without the end of the trial. “It is necessary to resolve the issue raised in light of this thesis endorsed by the majority of ministers of the Federal Supreme Court, even if the trial has not been definitively concluded, in order to guarantee legal certainty in the conduct of criminal proceedings and preserve the jurisdiction of the court”, explained the minister.
In September of this year, the plenary reached a score of 6 votes to 2 to establish a new understanding on the privileged forum in the Court. However, the trial was suspended following a request from Minister Nunes Marques.
By understanding, the privileged jurisdiction of a federal parliamentarian (deputy or senator) is maintained in the STF if the crime was committed during the exercise of the role of parliamentarian. This is the currently valid rule. However, in the case of resignation, non-reelection or revocation, the process will also be maintained in the Court.
According to the transition rule, all procedural acts of actions that are in progress must be maintained.
