The Rio Court of Justice determined, last Friday (28), that three more deputies assume their mandates in the Rio Legislative Assembly (Alerj) after leaving prison by decision of Alerj itself: André Correa (DEM), Luiz Martins (PDT) and Marcus Vinicius Neskau (PTB).
In practice, the Court extended the benefit it had already given to two other recently released prisoners: Chiquinho da Mangueira (PSC) and Marcos Abrahão (Avante).
In late 2018, five members of parliament were arrested in the Lava Jato investigation shortly after being re-elected. They never took office, were never paid, and were replaced by alternates.
This afternoon, it was announced that only Neskau and Luiz Martins had received judicial authorization to assume their mandates. However, a few minutes ago, it was confirmed that André Correa had also obtained a favorable ruling, through a preliminary injunction granted by Judge Rogério Oliveira Souza.
Chronology of the case:
October 2018: 70 deputies are elected to Alerj
November 2018: 5 of them are arrested in Furna da Onça (Lava Jato)
March 2019: Inmates are sworn in at the jail
March 2019: despite the inauguration, substitutes assume the mandates
April 2019: Court suspends inauguration of prisoners
October 2019: Supreme Federal Court orders Alerj to vote on possible release
October 2019: Alerj decides to release the five prisoners
November 2019: Released, they ask to resume their mandates
February 2020: Court orders 2 of them to take over
now: TJRJ extends the benefit to two more
With the latest ruling, the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly (Alerj) is at an impasse. This is because the court, in a previous ruling, suspended the incarceration of all five prisoners. Therefore, the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly (Alerj) sent a letter to the court asking whether the latest ruling overrides the previous one.
Two weeks ago, the Rio de Janeiro State Internal Affairs Office (Alerj) took the first step toward removing the five from prison. Behind the scenes, the sudden move is seen as a response to the failure to comply with the "agreement" made to release them from prison.
The next steps are:
Board of Directors analyzes the opinion
Ethics Council also issues opinion
Decision goes to plenary
Impeachment requires 36 votes
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