Credit, Reuters
The United States government removed this Friday (12/12) the Minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Alexandre de Moraes, and his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, from the list of people sanctioned by the Magnitsky law.
It was the first time that a Brazilian official was subject to such a sanction, one of the most severe available in Washington against foreigners considered to be perpetrators of serious human rights violations and corrupt practices.
Moraes was placed on the list in late July, but punishment had been a possibility since May, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was under consideration.
The removal of his name from the sanctions list represents a further de-escalation of tensions between the United States and Brazil, following the arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
The sanctions were formulated by federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), son of the former president and resident in the United States.
The movement around the Magnitsky law represented an attempt to internationalize the political confrontation between Bolsonaro’s supporters and the Brazilian justice system.
The U.S. sanctions against Moraes have been one of the most championed programs by Eduardo and other right-wing activists, who say Moraes and other STF members were leading a legal persecution against Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempted coup.
Using the Global Magnitsky Act to impose sanctions against Moraes was seen as an abuse of the law’s intentions and a misrepresentation of its original design, said William Browder, a British financial executive who led the campaign for approval of the law in the United States.
“The Magnitsky Act was established to impose sanctions on serious human rights violations and on those guilty of large-scale kleptocracy,” Browder said in an interview with BBC News Brasil in July, referring to political regimes in which leaders and authorities use their position to illegally enrich themselves.
“It was not designed to be used for political vendetta purposes. The current use of the Magnitsky Act is purely political and does not address the human rights issues for which it was originally designed. And as such, it is an abuse of the intentions of the law.”
Amid sanctions, Brazilian banks have been caught in the crossfire. On the one hand, institutions such as Itaú, Bradesco, Santander, BTG Pactual and Banco do Brasil were faced with the dilemma of complying with the Trump administration’s sanctions.
On the other hand, follows a decision by Minister Flávio Dino — who affirms that the application in Brazil of judicial convictions and foreign laws must be validated by international agreements or approved by the Brazilian court.
The sanction was revised given the good relations that Trump and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have built since their meeting at the UN General Assembly in September.
Since then, the presidents have made phone calls and spoken in person in Malaysia – and the lifting of sanctions against Moraes, as well as the end of 40% tariffs on Brazilian exports to Brazil, was one of the conditions for restoring relations between the two countries.
Credit, ANDRÉ BORGES/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
What is the Global Magnitsky Act
Approved under Barack Obama’s administration in 2012, the Magnitsky Act was created to punish Russian officials involved in the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed a state corruption scheme and died in custody in Moscow.
Initially aimed at those responsible for his death, the law broadened its scope in 2016, after an amendment allowing anyone accused of corruption or human rights violations to be included on the sanctions list.
Since then, the law has had worldwide application.
In 2017, for the first time, the law was applied outside the Russian context, under the first administration of Donald Trump.
At the time, three Latin Americans were targets of sanctions for corruption and human rights violations: Roberto José Rivas Reyes, then president of Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council; Julio Antonio Juárez Ramírez, deputy of Guatemala; and Ángel Rondón Rijo, businessman from the Dominican Republic.
The sanctions include the freezing of assets and accounts in the country, as well as a ban on entry into the United States. No legal procedure is necessary: measures can be adopted administratively, on the basis of reports from international organizations, the press or testimonies.
According to the text of the law itself, acts such as extrajudicial executions, torture, forced disappearances and systematic arbitrary arrests are considered serious violations.
Public officials who obstruct the work of journalists, human rights defenders or people who report corruption may also be punished.
The Magnitsky Act has already been used against members of the judiciary in countries such as Russia and against the authorities of Turkey and Hong Kong, in cases of persecution of opponents, fraudulent trials or institutionalized repression.
There are three main consequences for individuals on the sanctioned list: a travel ban to the United States, an asset freeze in the United States, and a ban on any person or company in the United States from engaging in economic transactions with the sanctioned individual.
In theory, this prevents anyone sanctioned from using, for example, US-branded credit cards, or from having accounts and investments in banks operating in the US market.
Offensive against Moraes and the STF
In addition to Bolsonaro’s persecution argument, Moraes was the target of criticism from Marco Rubio after ordering the blocking of
Since the arrival of the American delegation was confirmed, rumors have spread that one of the issues would be sanctions against members of the STF like Moraes, rapporteur of several ongoing cases against Bolsonaro and his supporters before the Court, such as those related to the acts of January 8, 2023.
In the message announcing the departure of the State Department team for Brazil, Eduardo Bolsonaro mentioned the minister.
“When I said that Alexandre de Moraes’ potatoes were heating up here in the United States, you can be sure that they are really heating up. God willing, the systematic violators of human rights (…) will be punished,” declared the dismissed parliamentarian.
The lawsuit, filed in Florida, questioned the minister’s authority to make decisions regarding content posted on Rumble and the monetization of that content.
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