Moraes closes case, but Eustáquio sees only a first step home

Moraes closes case, but Eustáquio sees only a first step home
Justice Alexandre de Moraes of Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court closed Petition 12,404, an investigation into journalists Oswaldo Eustáquio and Allan dos Santos over an alleged online campaign targeting federal police delegate Fábio Shor and members of the court. Reporting on the decision cited different September dates, but both accounts say it followed the Office of the Prosecutor General’s recommendation that the case be archived.

The initial police inquiry had treated the posts as a possible effort to pressure or retaliate against officials involved in investigations linked to an alleged coup attempt. Police had indicted dos Santos, Eustáquio, Senator Marcos do Val and Ednardo D’Avila Raposo, according to one account. Prosecutors, however, drew a narrower conclusion: while the material could indicate an intent to damage public officials’ reputations, it did not establish a structured plan to incite crimes or concretely obstruct specific investigations.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said the posts may, at most, amount to offenses against honor, for which a formal complaint by those affected would have been required. No such complaint was filed. A second report quoted the office as saying the postings “exceeded the limits of the differentiated tolerance” expected of public servants, but still lacked evidence of coordinated criminal obstruction or incitement.

Eustáquio’s side interpreted the ruling more broadly. He called it a “first step” toward returning to Brazil, arguing that precautionary detention orders linked to the archived case should fall. His lawyer also criticized what he described as a lack of notice and access to Moraes’s decision.

That optimism is tempered by the fact that Eustáquio still faces another detention order in a separate case. Dos Santos, meanwhile, amplified a post announcing the case’s closure on X, signaling a public celebration of the outcome rather than a detailed response to the prosecutors’ reasoning.

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