PRESIDENT Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva named Justice Minister Flavio Dino, a top figure in his administration, yesterday to serve as a justice on Brazil’s Supreme Court.

If confirmed to the 11-member court by the Senate, Dino, a 55-year-old ex-federal judge and -governor, will replace retired justice Rosa Weber, who stepped down in September.

Dino leaves the key justice ministry post at a time when Brazil is hit by a wave of violence linked to organised crime, notably in Rio de Janeiro and the northeastern state of Bahia – an issue he was tasked with tackling.

“It’s an immense honour to be named by President Lula,” Dino wrote on X.

“I will be engaging in dialogue to seek the honourable support of the Senate.”

Winning the needed Senate majority is typically a formality in Brazil, though Dino could hit resistance from allies of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro’s camp resents his leading role in the administration’s response to the riots that rocked Brasilia on January 8, when thousands of the former president’s supporters invaded the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court buildings.

The rioters were calling for a military intervention to oust Lula, a week after he took office following a polarizing election win over Bolsonaro in October 2022. More than 1,000 were arrested, with the first defendant sentenced to a heavy 17-year prison term in September.

Lula snubbed calls to name a black woman to replace Weber, leaving the high court with just one woman and all white justices, in a country where 56 percent of the population is black or mixed-race.

The nomination comes amid heightened tensions between the branches of government, after the Senate passed a bill last week curbing the powers of individual Supreme Court judges.

Lula also named prosecutor Paulo Gonet, 62, to head the prosecutor general’s office.

Gonet, currently a prosecutor for electoral crimes, was involved in a case that led to Bolsonaro being barred in June from running for office for eight years for his unproven attacks on the credibility of Brazil’s elections system. – AFP, November 28, 2023.