Senate revokes top court ruling, Aécio Neves reinstated

A plenary session at the Brazilian Senate decided to revoke the ruling made by the Supreme Court, reversing the suspension of Senator Aécio Neves, which had been imposed by top court justices on September 26.

The ruling overturned by the 44-26 decision had temporarily ousted Senator Neves from office, banned him from spending the night out of his home, and seen his passport confiscated. No abstentions were reported.

The vote was held after the majority of Supreme Court justices decided last week that the top court may not issue provisional measures ousting Congress members without approval from Congress.

Late in September, the Supreme Court had decided 3-2 to suspend Aécio Neves after corruption and obstruction charges were filed by the Prosecutor-General's Office, based on plea bargain statements by J&F executives.

Senator Aécio Neves, of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), narrowly lost the 2014 presidential elections with 51 million votes. Dilma Rousseff, his opponent, of the Workers' Party (PT), garnered 54.4 million votes.

Neves was among the main actors in the drive that saw former President Rousseff impeached in August last year. His party provides a significant part of the support for President Michel Temer, who is also facing corruption charges. Temer ran for office in 2014 as Rousseff's running mate.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira