Fux’s vote in Bolsonaro’s trial resonates in international press: ‘Breaking with colleagues’

Rejecting the hypothesis of Jair Bolsonaro’s involvement in a coup d’état or abolition, Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Luiz Fux stated that there is no proof of the former president’s participation on January 8, discredited his repeated attacks on the electoral process and voting machines, and highlighted what he claimed were weaknesses in the material evidence. On Wednesday, the magistrate opened disagreement in the First Chamber and acquitted Bolsonaro in a ‘marathon vote’ that reverberated internationally. International press outlets highlighted that Fux ‘broke away’ from his STF colleagues. The Reuters agency emphasized that Fux ‘broke away’ from his peers, bolstered defense arguments that the trial should be held in the full Supreme Court and increased ‘the chances for an appeal of the sentence’. The news agency noted that a conviction of Bolsonaro still seems likely in the case’s analysis, which is set to resume on Thursday with Justice Cármen Lúcia’s vote but stated that a potential lengthy appeals process ‘would bring the proceedings closer to the 2026 presidential campaign’. ‘The disagreement in the court increases tensions in a case that has already polarized the country and led thousands of Bolsonaro supporters to protest in the streets,’ wrote Reuters, referring to the September 7th rallies by bolsonaristas across the country. Reuters also pointed out that Fux was appointed to the STF by former President Dilma Rousseff, an ally and successor of Lula — against whom, according to the accusation, Bolsonaro and accomplices plotted a coup. Al Jazeera also stressed that Fux ‘broke away from colleagues’. The network highlighted Fux’s statement about the ‘absolute incompetence’ of the STF’s First Chamber to judge the case, which, according to him, should have been reviewed by lower instances since Bolsonaro had left the Presidency. Al Jazeera also mentioned the allegation that the defense did not have enough time to analyze so much material from the prosecution, which the magistrate dubbed a ‘tsunami of data’. The broadcaster stated that the Court still appears ‘inclined’ to convict Bolsonaro. ‘But the small victory is unlikely to last long, as the two remaining judges are expected to deliver guilty verdicts,’ it wrote, emphasizing that seven other defendants face similar sentences. The Associated Press also highlighted Fux’s split with ‘two pairs’, referring to Alexandre de Moraes and Flávio Dino, who voted to convict the eight defendants. The justice provided ‘some relief’ to Bolsonaro and ‘possible arguments for his defense team to appeal’. The AP mentioned the length of the minister’s vote and his colleagues’ reactions. ‘Fux took over 13 hours to finish explaining his vote before the five-member Supreme Federal Court commission, which included several disapproving looks from other court members, but no intervention,’ said the agency, which cited Fux’s condemning vote against former Presidential aides Mauro Cid and former Vice President Walter Braga Netto for the violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law. The EFE agency also emphasized Fux’s defense of ‘absolute incompetence’, as did the newspaper La Nación, which mentioned the possibility of Bolsonaro being sentenced to over 40 years in prison.