The Second Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) formed today (16) a majority of 3 votes to 2 in favor of the release of former governor of Rio de Janeiro Sérgio Cabral. The politician has been imprisoned since 2016. 
The judgment was held in the virtual plenary of the collegiate, a modality in which ministers enter the votes in the electronic system, without in-person deliberation. Thus, there is still no information on when the release warrant will be issued.
The release was motivated by the habeas corpus judgment in which the former governor’s defense alleged the incompetence of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba, then headed by former judge Sérgio Moro, to determine the arrest and judge the Operation Lava Jato process on the alleged payment of bribes in works at the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (Comperj).
The votes for the release were pronounced by ministers Ricardo Lewandowski, André Mendonça and Gilmar Mendes. Edson Fachin, the case’s rapporteur, and Nunes Marques voted to maintain the prison.
The virtual voting started on December 9th.
Sérgio Cabral’s defense released a note informing that “The Federal Supreme Court recognized the illegality of keeping former governor Sérgio Cabral in prison and determined that he should wait in freedom for the outcome of the process”. The defense clarifies that he will remain under house arrest pending the conclusion of the other criminal actions and “trusts in a fair solution, aimed at recognizing his innocence and a series of nullities existing in the other processes to which he responds.”
Matter updated at 00:11 to add a note by Sérgio Cabral.
