RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The former personal lawyer of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took a seat on the country’s Supreme Court on Thursday amid criticism that their relationship poses a conflict of interest.
Lula appointed Cristiano Zanin in June, drawing accusations from the opposition that he is jeopardizing the impartiality of Brazil’s highest court by making a friend one of its justices. The president denies having a friendship with the lawyer.
Zanin, who holds a law degree from Sao Paulo’s Pontifical Catholic University, specializes in procedural and business law and has been involved in more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court, according to the Chamber of Deputies.
He helped Lula overturn a graft conviction stemming from Brazil’s sprawling “Car Wash” corruption investigation, getting him freed after 580 days of incarceration. The Supreme Court annulled all convictions of Lula, and ruled in 2021 that the judge overseeing the case had been biased. That allowed Lula to run successfuly for his third, non-consecutive presidential term.
In July, senators examining Zanin’s appointment questioned the lawyer about his ability to remain nonpartisan. A large majority of senators went on to vote in favor of his nomination, making the 47-year-old the youngest justice on the 11-member court.
Lula, who in March called Zanin “his friend” on radio BandNews FM, pedalled back in a later interview. “He was not a friend, he was my lawyer,” Lula told Record TV in July after Zanin’s appointment had been approved by the Senate. “He is an extremely capable person … He is very studious, he is very competent, he is very dedicated and he is very serious. This is the reason why he was chosen.”
On the campaign trail, Lula made a veiled criticizm that then President Jair Bolsonaro, his main opponent in the race, tried to politicize the Supreme Court. “I am convinced that trying to meddle with the Supreme Court to place a friend, to place a partner, to place a supporter is a setback,” Lula said.
Zanin is filling the seat vacated by the April retirement of Justice Ricardo Lewandowski. In Brazil, Supreme Court justices must retire at 75, an age that Justice Rosa Weber will reach in October.
