Supreme Court rules 8-1 to keep former lower house speaker in prison

Brazil's Supreme Court passed a 8-1 ruling on Wednesday (Feb. 15) to keep the former speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha in jail.

Cunha has been held in custody at a prison in the metropolitan area of Curitiba, Paraná, since October, at the order of Federal Judge Sérgio Moro, the lower court judge presiding over Operation Car Wash corruption investigation.

The former deputy was arrested on charges of receiving illegal payments of $1.62 million through unreported accounts in Switzerland, in connection with the purchase of an oil field in Benin, Africa, by Petrobras.

In their motion asking to release Cunha from prison, the defense counsel argued that Federal Judge Sérgio Moro violated a ruling from the Supreme Court precluding the lawmaker's imprisonment for the charges against him under Operation Car Wash. According to the lawyers, the Supreme Court had decided to remove Cunha from office instead.

Majority

A large majority of the Supreme Court justices seconded the opinion of reporting Justice Edson Fachin, ruling there was nothing illegal about Judge Moro's decision. The former reporting justice on the case, Teori Zavascki, had also turned down a prior appeal. Zavascki died in a plane crash last month.

Translated by Mayra Borges