Lula chooses his lawyer and friend Cristiano Zanin as a new Supreme Court member
TI: "it contradicts Brazil's international commitments on the independence of the judiciary, violates the constitutional principle of impersonality, and the promise of saving democratic institutions"
Cristiano Zanin will join the highest court after the Senate's approval. Lula, who promised in the campaign that he would never choose Supreme Court justices out of friendship, said yesterday that he had suggested the name "of his friend Zanin" and said he was convinced that he would be "a great magistrate," not only because of the work he has done in his defense but also because of his "qualities as a lawyer." Zanin has been Lula's personal lawyer for a decade. He has defended the Brazilian president in the various corruption cases he has faced as part of Operation Lava Jato, which has jailed dozens of politicians and businessmen for fraudulent contracts with Petrobras and other state-owned companies.
Transparency Internacional states, "The appointment of a personal lawyer to the STF contradicts Brazil's international commitments on the independence of the judiciary, violates the constitutional principle of impersonality, and betrays the promise of saving democratic institutions."