The president of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), Beto Simonetti, will present a judicial interpellation against federal deputy Marcel van Hattem (Novo-RS), asking the parliamentarian to explain the accusations he made against the entity in his speech at the court’s stand. Chamber. The information was confirmed to Gazeta do Povo this Saturday (27) by the Order’s press office. In response, van Hattem said that the request “attacks the Constitution and the Brazilian Parliament”.
In a speech in the Chamber of Deputies this week, the deputy from Rio Grande do Sul stated that the OAB asked Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), “to censor lawyers illegally, outside of due process”. For the Order, van Hattem has used the Chamber’s rostrum to “offend and disseminate false information about the OAB” and that the interpellation serves to explain to the court why he is doing this.
van Hattem’s criticisms allude to a process by the Federal Council of the Brazilian Bar Association (CFOAB) against the Brazilian Conservative Bar Association (OACB), which culminated in a decision by Moraes to suspend the legal activities carried out by the OACB, blocking the entity’s social networks and prohibiting imitation of the OAB’s acronym and name. The decision became public last week through the release of an American report on censorship in Brazil. At the time, the Council accused the OACB of using the acronym and name of the OAB to spread false news against democracy.
A lawsuit with a similar content had been taking place since 2021, when the OAB accused the OACB of using “a name and logo similar to that of the Order to misrepresent the function of the institution and irregularly attract customers”. In April 2024, judge Diego Câmara, from the 17th Federal Court of the Federal District, won the case for the OAB.
Through the press office, the Order reiterated that “contrary to what the deputy says, the OAB does not persecute or seek to censor any lawyer, but only fulfills its function of curbing irregular activities and defending the reputation of the institution”.
Van Hattem rejected the request for interpellation. “Beto [Simonetti] and the OAB know that I did not make fake news. What bothers me is the truth I’m exposing! I repeat: the OAB used the Moraes investigation to persecute and censor lawyers, outside of due legal process”, the parliamentarian published on his profile on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
“My response to any question that may appear is already recorded here: a copy of the Constitution with art. 53 highlighted with a highlighter and underlined in pen. In addition to disrespecting due process in the case I reported, now the OAB has decided to attack the Constitution and the Brazilian Parliament. Surreal!!!”, he added.
If he does not respond to the interpellation, van Hattem may face legal proceedings. The parliamentarian informed the People’s Gazette which until this Saturday morning (27) had not been notified by the courts.
Opposition parliamentarians lend support to van Hattem
After the news about the OAB’s request for judicial interpellation, opposition parliamentarians and party colleagues expressed support for deputy Marcel van Hattem.
Senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), leader of the opposition in the Senate, said that the “inviolability of parliamentary mandates”, expressed in article 53 of the Constitution, “is now being attacked by the OAB”.
“Vassalage and subalternity in the name of adherence to the current regime deforms morality, subverts ethics and transforms the reality of those who should value the correct and impartial application of laws. Regrettable performance by the OAB, which turned into a show of arbitrariness, and all solidarity with the dep. Marcel”, he wrote in X.
The Novo party classified the OAB’s attitude as “shameful” in “legally threatening” the deputy. “The OAB should return its efforts to defending due legal process and the right to defense, two basic premises of the Law that are at serious risk in the country,” said the party on its social networks.
The leader of the opposition in the Chamber, deputy Filipe Barros (PL-PR), stated that, if Simonetti “decides to move forward with the attempt at judicial intimidation” against van Hattem, “the leadership of the Opposition in the Chamber will have no alternative but to prosecute it civilly and criminally.” “We will not accept intimidation of any opposition deputy”, he stressed.
“The violations against lawyers by the STF are not enough, now will they also do the same with the prerogatives of deputies? And this time, starting from the OAB? I hope that Beto Simonetti reviews his decision and respects parliamentary immunity”, stated federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG).
Party colleague and former deputy Deltan Dallagnol criticized the OAB initiative in the same vein. “If the OAB takes action against a parliamentarian for expressing facts and opinions in the tribune, the most sacred place of parliamentary immunity, it will dirty its hands with a new and serious abuse against the Constitution, the law, parliamentary immunity and freedom of expression, which should be the 1st to defend”, he said.
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