The Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region on Wednesday dismissed 2 habeas corpus that benefited former President Michel Temer and ordered him to return to prison, while Temer told reporters which will be turned over to police on Thursday.
The court also rescinded the habeas corpus that benefited the former Colonel of the Military Police of São Paulo João Baptista Lima Filho, Colonel Lima, personal friend of Temer.
Temer and Lima had been arrested in March in the context of the Decontamination operation, which investigates deviations of resources at Eletronuclear and released a few days later, thanks to habeas corpus now revoked.
The TRF-2 clerks kept the habeas corpus for five other prisoners in the operation, an arm of Lava Jato, among them former minister Moreira Franco.
The judges of the 1st Panel of the court Paulo Espírito Santo and Abel Gomes voted in favor of the cassation of habeas corpus granted monocratically by the judge Ivan Athié, who maintained the decision in the vote of this Wednesday.
The decision of the judges envisages that Temer and Lima appear immediately.
Speaking to reporters in Sao Paulo, the former president, however, said he would surrender spontaneously on Thursday and criticized the ruling.
“I’ll introduce myself tomorrow, I’ll agree with the lawyer, with all tranquility, no problem at all. There is no misconception about my conduct,” Temer said.
Attorney for former president Eduardo Carnelós also said that his client will turn himself in on Thursday, and asked that there be no driving, as was done in March.
Carnelos added that he will appeal to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) to try to annul the decision of TRF-2. He considered the decision to revoke habeas corpus an unfortunate injustice.
“Let’s ask the upper court to restore the freedom of the former president … but surely he will introduce himself tomorrow,” he said.
“But I asked him to be able to introduce himself without being subjected to an absurd exposure and violence as happened on March 21,” he told reporters after his trial. “I can only regret this decision. I consider it an injustice and there are no grounds for arrest, “he added.
Temer and others arrested in the Decontamination operation were accused of being members of a gang that benefited from misuse of resources in works contracts at the Angra 3 plant and advertising at Brasília airport. The MPF accused the former president of being the leader of a criminal organization that served for about 40 years in diverting public resources.
Attorney Silvana Batini of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rio de Janeiro considered the decision to revoke Temer’s habeas corpus a fair and correct position of TRF-2.
“Faced with all facts, evidence and documents, justice has been done here today and the reality of the facts has been restored,” she said.
“We understand that this is a criminal organization that has been acting for 40 years and the connection between Lima and Temer has been in the State of São Paulo since the 1980s, forming a criminal partnership … the criminal organization is confused with the political life of these people, “he concluded.
