Political scientist Marina Barreto and former Workers’ Party (PT) president José Genoino assess that there is no comparison between the arrest of former president Jair Bolsonaro and that of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In an interview with Radio BdF, they argued that the two cases are fundamentally different, both from a legal and a democratic standpoint.
“Many people have drawn parallels between Lula’s arrest and Bolsonaro’s, but these are incomparable situations. Bolsonaro attempted to undermine the foundations of the democratic rule of law. There is an abundance of evidence. And the Supreme Court followed all legal procedures, with full right to defense and sobriety. There was no media spectacle. These are incommensurable situations,” said Marina Barreto, a researcher at the Law and Democracy Center of the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Cebrap).
She recalled that Lula had his conviction annulled by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in 2019 due to illegalities in the Car Wash operation, while Bolsonaro began serving his definitive sentence last Saturday (22), after the case regarding the coup plot became final and unappealable. “We are talking about a former president who, in fact, tried to undermine the foundations of a democratic rule of law,” she reinforced, highlighting the “abundance of evidence” and the “sober” handling of the case by the STF.
Genoino detailed the differences in the course of the two cases, noting that “Bolsonaro was arrested after conviction. Lula was arrested during the investigation.” He recalled that “the plea bargain testimonies against Lula were false and were demonstrably dismantled and discredited” and that “the judge was biased,” referring to Bolsonaro’s former Justice Minister and former Car Wash judge, Senator Sérgio Moro.
According to the former congressman, the trial of the attempted coup marks a turning point in the judiciary itself in relation to the Car Wash operation. “In this case, it is clear that the Supreme Federal Court respected due legal process, the right to adversarial proceedings and defense, and the serving of the sentence is taking place after the third instance,” he said. In the earlier episode, “Lula’s arrest took place within a process of criminalization of politics that began with the Mensalão,” he added.
Barreto also assessed that the discourse equating the two cases is part of a political tactic by the far right to portray Bolsonaro as a victim and to erode institutions. “The Bolsonaro family has already been saying they will invoke international agreements, that Bolsonaro is a politically persecuted figure. And we know how they have, unfortunately, been very persistent in appropriating the language of rights and democracy. That is why we need to be very attentive,” she warned.
