Cristiano Zanin, Lawyer, and Lula's Friend, Takes Office as Supreme Court Justice
Lula's defense lawyer in the Operation Car Wash Lawsuits, he is the PT's first nominee for the Federal Supreme Court in the current term
First appointed in the current term of President Lula (PT) to the STF (Federal Supreme Court), Cristiano Zanin, 47, took office this Thursday (3) as Court Justice, in the vacancy opened by the retirement of Ricardo Lewandowski. The new Justice advocated for Lula in the Lava Jato ( Operation Car Wash) lawsuits and is a personal friend of the president. He can stay on the court until 2050 when he turns 75, the age limit for judges to compulsorily retire. Zanin was approved on June 21 by the Senate, by 58 votes to 18, to join the Supreme Court. He needed the vote of at least 41 senators (out of a total of 81 members of the House) to be approved.
Lula was one of the 350 people who accompanied the inauguration in the plenary of the Federal Supreme Court, in addition to the Speaker of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), supreme court justices and private guests of Zanin. Not on friendly terms with Zanin since last year, lawyer Roberto Teixeira, father-in-law of the new Justice and friend of Lula for decades, did not attend the inauguration. It was through Teixeira that Zanin got to defend Lula in the Lava Jato cases. The new Justice and his father-in-law dissolved the partnership they had as a law firm and even had a lawsuit in court.
Translated by Cassy Dias