Lula calls ruling on Car Wash prosecutor shameful
Former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the ruling of the Brazilian National Prosecutors’ Council (CNMP) shameful after the Council dismissed his complaint against the abuses of Deltan Dallagnol, operation Car Wash coordinator.
Eight out of the ten members (it should have been 14) who attended the National Prosecutors’ Council (CNMP) hearing voted in favor of the proceeding dismissal alleging the punishments that could have been imposed had already been prescribed.
Prescription is a judicial rule that prevents punishment once there has been too long since the deed being investigated occurred.
Lula’s defense filed a proceeding against Dallagnol before the Federal Supreme Court last week, due to a slide presentation in 2016, when the prosecutor accused former president Lula of leading a criminal organization.
According to Lula’s lawyers, the Car Wash coordinator promoted, then, “shadow premature and despicable judgements, with highly defamatory claims”.
After 42 postponed sessions, the Council decided on the dismissal of Lula’s complaint last Tuesday but acknowledged there were grounds to open a disciplinary proceeding against Dallagnol and the Car Wash task-force.
Besides, the Council prohibited the members of the Prosecutor’s Office from using the organization’s staff, facilities, and resources to political ends.
“The ruling of the CNMP, which acknowledges Dallagnol as guilty though it hadn’t dared to clear him of all charges, will be marked as a shameful chapter on the Prosecutor’s Office history”, Lula said on Twitter.
Lula stressed that it is “a shame how an institution which could have been so noble in the provision of services to the Brazilian society has been impoverished by some of its members”, and that it has demoralized the Brazilian justice system.
The lawyer Cristiano Zanin, a member of Lula’s defense team, lamented over the lack of punishment to Dallagnol and commented that “the trial reassures everything we have been saying since 2016. It’s a non-standard performance of one member of the Prosecutor’s Office that ends up eroding the institution’s public perception”.
Zanin Martins has also informed that the defense team awaits the issuing of the ruling to decide whether they are going to appeal.
