Judge removed from leading actions of Curitiba’s 13th court remaining in operation after saying he admires Lula
The Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region decided this Monday 22 to remove Judge Eduardo Appio from the 13th Federal Criminal Court of Curitiba, in which the remaining actions of Lava Jato are pending. The decision was issued by the Special Administrative Tribunal, by majority vote, in the midst of an investigation into the conduct of the disgruntled judge of Senator Sérgio Moro and the deputy deputy Deltan Dallagnol, architects of the operation.
The decision was issued after a reply from judge Marcelo Malucelli, involved in a fraud in the case of the lawyer Tacla Duran, a former Odebrecht operator who is now accusing Moro and Deltan (see below). The Regional Court suspects Appio’s connection with the ‘threats’ narrated by the son of the judge, the lawyer João Malucelli. João is a partner in the Wolff Moro office, in Curitiba – which also includes MP Rosangela Moro and her husband, Senator Sergio Moro.
The procedure was confidential. Following the decision to remove Appio, TRF-4 decided to publicize the case, which is under the rapporteur of the regional magistrate, Judge Cândido Alfredo Silva Leal Júnior. The judge will have 15 days to present a preventive defense.
The judges also ruled that Appio must return the electronic devices he used: working desktops, notebooks and mobile phones. The equipment will be taken care of by the Tribunal. TRF-4 highlighted the need to adopt ‘appropriate protocols for the chain of custody of any leads and evidence’.
After the decision was made public, one of Appio’s main enemies, ousted MP Deltan Dallagnol, called the ousted magistrate a militant judge. In a tweet, the former public prosecutor referred to the fact that the magistrate had used the expression ‘LUL22’ as an acronym for access to federal justice systems in Paraná.
Earlier, Appio said he used the acronym as a form of “isolated protest against an arrest he considered illegal.” The magistrate claims that, at the time he used this identification, he was working with the social security law and the current president was detained in Lava Jato.
The removal was announced hours after the magistrate said he admired Lula. The magistrate said that the president “is a historical figure, very important for the country”. He stressed, however, that such “admiration” “doesn’t interfere in his decisions at all.”
Eduardo Appio took over as titular of the 13th federal court in Curitiba in February, after Judge Luiz Antônio Bonat was promoted to TRF-4 judge. Bonat even participated in the judgment that put an end to Appio’s removal: his name appears as a substitute in the sentence of the Special Administrative Court of the TAR.
The chair from which the judge has now been removed was occupied by the former judge Sérgio Moro, now a senator, at the height of Lava Jato. Since assuming the basic judgment of the Operation, Appio has taken a series of measures that upset the former task force, such as the rescue of the Tacla Duran chapter, a former financial operator of Odecbrecht who accuses Moro and Deltan Dallagnol. Some decisions have also led to direct discussions with the architects of Lava Jato.
The clash with Malucelli
Before being cautiously removed, Appio had already suffered clashes with the TRF-4. The main even culminated in the resignation of a judge of the Court to report on the Lava Jato cases. This is the judge Marcelo Malucelli, father of the lawyer João Malucelli, partner of the Wolff Moro law firm in Curitiba. He is the author of the representation in which the removal of Appius was determined.
Malucelli resigned from the Lava Jato trials at TRF-4 after being targeted by the National Council of Justice. The magistrate was involved in a fraud when he issued an order in the case of the lawyer Rodrigo Tacla Duran. First, TRF-4 revealed that the judge had overturned a decision by Appio and reinstated the pretrial custody of Moro and Deltan’s opponent. Subsequently, the Court reversed and said that there had been a misinterpretation of the decision.
Prior to the TRF-4 rectification, Appio also understood that the TRF-4 judge reinstated Tacla Duran’s arrest. The judge of the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba went so far as to solicit Malucelli directly on the case. The judge not only ended up in the crosshairs of the CNJ, but he also had to explain his decision to the president of the federal court, Rosa Weber.
More setbacks before retirement
The latest setback suffered by Appio took place on Friday 19. (Civil Government/Dilma) intending to re-discuss the terms of the plea agreement. The magistrate not only canceled the hearing that had been ordered by Appio, but also removed the judge of the XIII Federal Court of Curitiba from discussing Palocci’s award-winning collaboration.
In another case, Judge Carlos Eduardo Thompson Flores suspended Appio’s decision which overturned a 14-year prison sentence imposed by Moro on the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral. Thompson Flores believed the judge had failed to comply with an earlier decision by TRF-4 – which had ordered Appio to investigate suspicious claims made against him.
On Saturday the 20th he rejected one of the trials that raised his suspicions. The action in question was filed by a prosecutor from Ponta Grossa, in the interior of Paraná, asking for the judge of Lava Jato to be removed. In dismissing the allegations, Appio said he was the victim of a “frivolous” narrative. He also specified that the accusations against him are nothing more than “conjectures, of an absolutely generic nature, devoid of any evidential ballast”.
*With information from Estadão Content
Source: Terra
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