Attorney defends the filing of the triplex lawsuit

Sought defended statute of limitations due to the age of former

Published on 07/12/2021 - 18:09 By Agência Brasil - Brasília

The Federal District Attorney's Office sent a manifestation to the Federal Court in Brasília for the shelving of the triplex case involving former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Operation Lava Jato. The recognition of prescription depends on the decision of the 12th Federal Court.

In the opinion, signed yesterday (6), the Federal Attorney Marcia Brandão Zollinger defended the prescription of the punitive claim due to the age of Lula, who is 76 years old. Thus, the former president can no longer be punished in an eventual conviction. According to criminal law, the statute of limitations is halved when the accused is over 70 years of age.

“Analyzing the sentences, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had his sentence reformed by the STJ [Superior Court of Justice], making it definitive for the crime of money laundering in 3 years and 4 months of imprisonment and for the crime of corruption passive in 5 years, 6 months and 20 days. In this case, the statute of limitations provided for in art. 109, items II and III, of the Penal Code, reduced by half, and the state punitive claim remains prescribed”, wrote the prosecutor.

The case ended up in the Federal Courts after the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) which recognized the partiality of former judge Sergio Moro in conducting the triplex process and annulled the former president's conviction. In the decision, the majority of ministers decided that the case should be resumed from the beginning and be referred to the first instance in Brasília.

defenses

In a statement, lawyers Cristiano Zanin and Valeska Teixeira Martins, Lula's representatives, stated that the case was “artificially constructed” to remove the former president from the electoral dispute.

"The filing request presented by the MPF should put an end to a case that was constructed artificially from the collusion of former judge Sergio Moro and former attorney Deltan Dallagnol to arrest former president Lula, remove him from the 2018 and to unduly attack his reputation, as we have always maintained,” said the defense.

Through social networks, Moro defended the end of the statute of limitations for crimes. “Legal maneuvers have completely buried the case of Lula's triplex, accused in Lava Jato. Corruption crimes should be indefinite, as the damage caused to society, which dies due to lack of adequate health, which does not advance in education, can never be repaired”, he said.

In a statement, former Lava Jato prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol said the allegation of collusion is "absurd and fanciful."

"The request for archiving by statute of limitations of crimes for which former president Lula was investigated, as well as was accused and convicted before the annulment of the case, as reported today, is not based on an alleged collusion, which was never recognized by any court of the country, but, yes, the statute of limitations of crimes due to the delay of Justice and the age of the ex-president”, affirmed.

Text translated using artificial intelligence.

Edition: Bruna Saniele

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