Alexandre de Moraes did not commit a crime when he ordered the arrest of an American citizen

Pmisleading ost in English states that Alexandre de Moraes committed a crime by “invading American borders to issue an arrest warrant against an American citizen”, because the target of the court decision has dual citizenship, Brazilian and American, and lives in the United States . The text is accompanied by a print of the arrest warrant, with the target’s identification data hidden.

It is not true that Alexandre de Moraes, minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), committed a crime or invaded the borders of the United States by issuing an arrest warrant against a citizen with dual citizenship — Brazilian and North American.

When carrying out a search at the National Prison Monitoring Bank on February 8, the date stated in the arrest warrant attached to the post on X, the report identified two decisions issued by the minister that day. The arrest mentioned in the post was ordered against Flávia Cordeiro Magalhães, also identified in the document as Flávia Magalhães Soares.

O Check was unable to locate Flávia, but, in a video posted on social media in 2023, she reports that she has dual citizenship, Brazilian and North American, and that she has lived in the United States for 22 years.

In the decision, Moraes alleged that the woman insists on non-compliance with previously made decisions by “continuing to spread fraudulent news on social media”. A Flávia’s account on X is currently on hold.

WAs criminal lawyer Railane Roma, from Jorge Advogados, explains, there is no illegality in a Brazilian authority issuing an arrest warrant for citizens of any nationality. “A citizen who enters Brazilian national territory is subject to compliance with Brazilian laws and, in the event of committing a crime that involves imprisonment as a penalty, he or she may be detained, either by arrest in flagrante delicto or by preventive detention.”

According to the expert, in this way, even if the target’s citizenship is not confirmed, there would be no impact on the legality of the issuance of the arrest warrant by the minister or any other competent authority.

There is also no “border invasion” because the arrest warrant will not be served on American soil. An example of a case of this nature is that of Bolsonaro blogger Allan dos Santos, against whom an arrest warrant has been issued and whose extradition was requested from the United States, but denied by the American government. In Flávia’s case, she will only be arrested if she enters Brazilian territory or if she is extradited to the country.

There is a normative instruction from the National Council of Justice (CNJ) that seeks to facilitate the location of people with arrest warrants and who are in other countries through the International Criminal Police Organization system, Interpol, of which Brazil is a member.

In this way, Brazilian citizens wanted by the courts can be included on the “red list”. If this occurs, a request is made for authorities around the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person. However, this action does not amount to an “international arrest warrant”, as member countries apply their own laws when deciding whether or not to arrest a person.

Most of the names on the list are restricted to police use, that is, they are not public, but some are published at the request of the country looking for them when the fugitive threatens public security, or public help is considered necessary to locate a person. Flávia’s name is not among those of seven publicly listed Brazilian women.

The STF press office was contacted to comment on the case, but did not comment.

Misleading, for the Check, is content taken from the original context and used in another so that its meaning changes; that uses inaccurate data or that leads to an interpretation different from the intention of its author; content that confuses, with or without the deliberate intent to cause harm.

O Check investigates suspicious content with the greatest reach on social media. As of April 29, the publication had 1.3 million views, 8 thousand likes and 2 thousand retweets.

We consulted the National Prison Monitoring Bank, news about cases similar to the one mentioned in the post, a specialist in Criminal Law, Interpol and we contacted the STF.

O Check monitors suspicious content published on social networks and messaging applications about public policies, health, climate change and elections at the federal level and opens investigations into those publications that have greater reach and engagement. You can also suggest checks via WhatsApp +55 11 97045-4984.