Minister André Mendonça, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), defended on Friday the decision that provisionally removed the director-general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, and stated that the measure did not interfere in the constitutional attributions of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). In a filing sent to the president of the Court, Edson Fachin, Mendonça alleged that the decision did not remove from the Executive the prerogative to choose who will hold the command of the PF and that it has support in the legislation that governs the corporation.
Mendonça's filing occurs after Fachin suspended the previous decision that had removed Rodrigues and the director of Police Intelligence of the PF, Leandro Almada. The president of the STF also blocked a decision by Minister Flávio Dino that determined the reintegration of the two leaders to their positions.
The sequence of conflicting decisions regarding the command of the Federal Police generated an impasse among the ministers of the court. Mendonça was summoned by Fachin to file a response in the process in which the Federal Attorney General's Office requested the suspension of the measures regarding the command of the corporation.
