Government and opposition disagree on STF decision regarding Ramagem

Deputies from the government and opposition bases reacted this Friday (9) to the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) which has a majority formed to partially suspend the criminal action against federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ).

The majority decision came days after the Chamber of Deputies completely suspended the criminal action investigating an attempted coup d'état in 2022. According to the STF's decision, of the five crimes for which Ramagem is being investigated, only two may have their proceedings suspended.

The leader of the Workers' Party (PT) in the Chamber of Deputies, Lindbergh Farias (RJ), celebrated the decision and said that the Supreme Court is the “guardian of the Constitution”. The deputy classifies the measure approved by the Chamber as unconstitutional.

“The proposed resolution approved [by the Chamber] characterizes a legal aberration of a teratological nature, as it directly violates the previous decision of the First Chamber, which limited, with a formed majority, the possibility of suspension only to the parliamentarian individually denounced and only with regard to crimes committed after his/her diploma”, wrote Lindbergh.

The leader also said that the opposition cannot “persist in inciting disobedience to judicial decisions, in delegitimizing the Judiciary and in encouraging institutional rupture.”

On the other hand, the opposition criticized the Supreme Court's decision. The leader of the PL in the Chamber, deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ), stated that the bench views with "deep concern" the measure adopted by the STF.

The deputy explained that the Chamber's decision was approved by 315 parliamentarians. "Our concern is not limited to the fact that this is Alexandre Ramagem, a member of our party, but mainly to the fact that he is a legitimate federal deputy, a representative elected by the population," he stated.

Chamber Decision

On Wednesday (7), the Chamber approved, by 315 votes to 143, a resolution project that suspends all criminal proceedings investigating an attempted coup d'état. Deputy Alexandre Ramagem was indicted by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) for five crimes, and the Chamber's action suspended the progress of the proceedings on all crimes.

The request to suspend the criminal action was presented by the PL and is based on the 53rd article of the Constitution. The rule defines that all deputies and senators are inviolable, civilly and criminally, “for any of their opinions, words and votes”.

An excerpt from the article points out that, when there is a complaint against a parliamentarian for a crime that occurred after graduation, the STF will inform Congress and, at the initiative of a political party, the plenary may suspend the progress of the action.

STF Action

This Friday, the First Chamber of the Supreme Court voted to maintain the criminal proceedings against the deputy for three crimes: violent abolition of the Democratic State of Law; coup d'état; and criminal organization.

Thus, Ramagem is exempt from answering for two crimes that allegedly occurred after he was sworn in as a federal deputy: qualified damage and deterioration of listed heritage. With this, the vote in the STF partially challenges the decision of the parliamentarians.

In addition to suspending the case against Ramagem, the Chamber's decision benefited other defendants in the case, including former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). In the STF, the rapporteur of the case, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, ruled that the suspension cannot apply to defendants who do not have a parliamentary mandate.

“The requirements of a highly personal nature (immunity applicable only to parliamentarians) and temporal nature (crimes committed after the diploma is issued), provided for in the constitutional text, are clear and expressive, in the sense of the impossibility of applying this immunity to non-parliamentary co-defendants and to criminal offenses committed before the diploma is issued”, wrote the minister.