The process that investigates the alleged plan to kidnap Moro is underway in the 9th Federal Court of Curitiba. The press office of the Federal Court of Paraná told the electronic magazine Consultor Jurídica that the jurisdiction is federal, not state, because the victim is a senator. . The rule establishes that "the Federal Court is responsible for prosecuting and judging crimes committed against a federal public employee, when related to the exercise of the function". Furthermore, the press office maintained that the investigation is being carried out in Curitiba as it is the place where Moro resides and where the alleged kidnapping would be carried out. The first acts of execution of this plan took place in December 2022, when he had already been elected, but not sworn in.
However, the fact that Moro is a senator or was Minister of Justice — a position in which he took measures that displeased the PCC, according to judge Gabriela Hardt — does not attract the competence of the Federal Court, says Afrânio Silva Jardim , retired professor of Criminal Procedural Law from the State University of Rio de Janeiro. He states that the fact that the victim of a crime against a person — such as kidnapping or possible homicide, crimes that could allegedly be committed against Moro — is a public offi USA Phone Number cial is not a possibility for assigning the case to federal judges, according to the Constitution. Article 109, IV, of the Magna Carta establishes that the Federal Court is responsible for prosecuting and judging political crimes and criminal offenses committed to the detriment of goods, services or interests of the Union or its autonomous entities or public companies, excluding misdemeanors and with the exception the competence of the Military Justice and the Electoral Court. Jardim highlights that, in the case of kidnapping, attempted kidnapping or murder, the execution did not begin. And raising aspects of the eventual victim's daily life does not characterize the beginning of the crime. In any case, they would be crimes committed against Sergio Moro as an individual, not to the detriment of goods, services or interests of the Union or its autonomous entities or public companies.
Therefore, the jurisdiction lies with the state courts, not the federal courts, says the professor. If there is a crime that was already being committed, he highlights, it is that of belonging to a criminal organization — which is mere conduct and has no victim. Therefore, the fact that Moro is a senator and has been Minister of Justice again does not make the Federal Court competent to conduct the investigation. Along the same lines, Aury Lopes Jr. , professor of Criminal Procedural Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, states that it is not the case that Precedent 147 of the STJ applies. "The jurisdiction of the Federal Court would be attracted if the crime was committed against a public servant in the exercise of his duties. The exercise must be up to date. He (Moro) is a senator today, but the crimes have no relation to that. I see no justification for incidence of the summary, nor for federal jurisdiction.