Moraes targets shocked by mafia-like tone of leaked messages

Recent reports from Family of S.Paulo revealed that Judge Alexandre de Moraes created an unofficial unit within the Brazilian judiciary and turned it into his own investigation department. Leaked online conversations from this unit revealed Moraes’ deliberate selection of targets for prosecution, underscoring how he manipulated investigations by acting simultaneously as prosecutor, victim and judge.

Moraes allegedly instructed his Supreme Court legal advisor, Airton Vieira, to have reports prepared by Eduardo Tagliaferro, then head of the Special Advisory on Combating Disinformation (AEED) at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). Moraes used his role as then-president of the TSE, which operates as an electoral body within Brazil’s Supreme Court, to issue directives from his office at the Supreme Court to the TSE.

Although the targeted individuals were aware of the secret nature of some of Moraes’ operations, they were still surprised to learn that the judge had personally ordered and edited the reports.

“Although we were already aware of the unconstitutional nature of the investigation, in which constitutional rights are being violated, and they do not even bother to inform the accused of the existence of the process, I never thought that the minister himself would request the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) to draw up a report and specify that the source was anonymous. I thought that was too much, but unfortunately it is the truth,” said former Paraná state deputy Homero Marchese, one of Moraes’ selected targets.

Marchese was censored in November 2022 and his social media accounts were blocked for months after he raised concerns about potential vulnerabilities in Brazil’s electronic voting system. In May, a Paraná court ruled that Marchese should receive R$20,000 in compensation from the federal government for moral damages caused by the censorship, but Moraes reversed that decision.

Rodrigo Constantino, columnist for Gazette of the Povo who also ended up on the judge’s blacklist, was shocked by the mafia-like tone of the dialogues. He believes that the certainty of impunity “might have made them a little more relaxed.”

“I already knew that Alexandre was completely outside the law and using law enforcement, but when you see the language, the behavior, everything that points to the criminal underworld, it is of course a bit of a shock,” he said. “What surprised me the most was the mafia-like behavior, the mafia-like language,” he added.

It is clear from the messages that when the Minister was drafting the indictment reports, which he would later review, he requested specific adjustments in detail so that they would better meet his wishes.

In one of the released messages, Vieira instructed the operative to “pull out all the stops” for the report against Constantino. “Eduardo, block and fine through the STF (Rodrigo Constantino). Please go all out for the report. Haha. Then send it officially, via email. Thank you,” read part of the material.

Another victim of these commissioned reports was federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. In conversations beginning in November 2022, Marco Antônio Vargas, a legal adviser to Moraes, asked Tagliaferro to link Eduardo to Argentine marketer Fernando Cerimedo, who had hosted a livestream that year exposing electoral irregularities. Criticism of Brazil’s electoral system is increasingly seen by the court as an “attack on the democratic rule of law.”

Eduardo Bolsonaro expressed his outrage on social media at being specifically targeted. “I am being personally persecuted by a Supreme Court judge who wants to imprison me. For corruption? For murder? No, because I defend my voters and do not bow to the pressure of the powerful,” he said.

Parallel cabinet defector fears reprisals from Moraes

As in mafia circles, Moraes already exercises control over defectors from the parallel cabinet. His recent decision to target Eduardo Tagliaferro, a former cabinet member, is an example of this.

In an interview with The state of S. PauloTagliaferro expressed his fear of becoming the victim of a feud.

“I do have some fears, yes. According to my lawyer, Dr. Eduardo Kuntz, this investigation should not have existed in the way it was conducted,” he said. “According to him, it could even result in an arrest warrant for me, because the minister himself initiated the investigation and put me in a position of mistrust. That would be very embarrassing, because I have done nothing wrong. I sincerely hope that does not happen.”

Impeachment must continue despite established judiciary, targets say

Those targeted by the prosecution believe that a deep-rooted network of complicity within the upper echelons of the judiciary makes meaningful change a challenging and lengthy process. Nevertheless, Moraes’ removal is considered necessary as an instructional measure.

“I have heard people say that there is no point in impeaching him because ‘Lula will just appoint another communist.’ What these people are missing is precisely the instructive factor. Alexandre Moraes is today the greatest symbol of the regime of exception, political persecution, oppression, authoritarianism, the dictatorship that Brazil is currently living under,” Constantino claims. “I think it is crucial for the country that Alexandre Moraes does not go unpunished after everything that has come to light.”

Marchese also believes that “the request for impeachment is very important” and recalls that “history is full of examples of changes of power, where those who were the accusers, those who led the measures against others, ended up being the accused.”

“The power structure is changing and society feels the need to deal with the past. I think that’s why it’s important to document what’s happening, to inform people and to expose more and more of what’s going on, because it may take a while, but I believe that justice can be done,” said the former deputy.

For Constantino, it would be a discouraging scenario if nothing happens after all the revelations against Moraes. “If all this is swept under the carpet, I really believe that this time – and I am not exaggerating – it is fair to say that Brazil is finished as a serious country, even as an unfinished attempt at a republic. It is over. It would be the infamous ‘game over’.”