The National Council of Justice (CNJ) removed, on Tuesday (28), the federal judge Marcelo Bretas, the 7th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro and responsible for Operation Lava Jato in Rio de Janeiro since 2015, for alleged irregularities in the conduct of proceedings.
The collegiate unanimously decided to initiate disciplinary istrative proceedings against the magistrate and remove him from office until the investigations are completed. The decision was taken behind closed doors and the details of the proceedings were not disclosed.
The lawsuits question Bretas' performance in Operation Lava Jato. In one of them, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes (Social Democratic Party), says he is the target of persecution by Bretas, whose behavior does not comply with the principle of impartiality. Bretas is also accused of trying to influence Lava Jato defendants to sign plea deals.
The cases that Bretas tried were not analyzed, only his conduct as a criminal judge.
Performance questioned by specialists
Bretas gained prominence for having sentenced the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral, to more than 400 years in prison, and sent to jail several politicians and businessmen involved in corruption cases. However, his performance has always been questioned by specialists, who point to the lack of impartiality and legality in his decisions.
Writer Milton Alves, author of the book "Lava Jato: a conspiracy against Brazil", commented, at Brasil de Fato's request, the CNJ action that removed judge Marcelo Bretas. According to him, the process is one more way to curb the abuses of a political current within the Judiciary, an expression he uses to define the Lava Jato operation.
"I believe that the CNJ and also the Supreme Court, the STF, have begun to take measures to contain the Lava Jato. This segment of the judiciary has caused great problems for justice, for the judiciary and for the country. Just look at the example of the arbitrary imprisonment and persecution of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva," he said.
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For Alves, Bretas ran over several processes and acted in a mediatic way, counting on the of large communication agencies such as Rede Globo for his actions, often bying the judiciary and the due process of law. He argues that it is necessary to punish all the deviations and remove the federal judge, as well as Moro, who abandoned the judiciary to become a politician.
"They [Bretas and Moro] use the toga to do partisan politics, to spread a reactionary and conservative opinion against the very rule of law and democracy. Bretas is as harmful as Moro," he said.
In September 2020, Brasil de Fato showed how the Lava Jato raids against the office of lawyer Cristiano Zanin, authorized by Bretas, drew the attention of jurists for the authoritarian manner in which they manipulated the investigative activities of public institutions and the rules and guarantees provided in the Federal Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
