The appeals challenge rulings by Rio’s Regional Electoral Court.

These rulings dismissed allegations of abuse of political and economic power through the hiring of thousands of people for secret public positions for electoral purposes.

The secret positions were revealed by journalists Ruben Berta and Igor Mello on the UOL news portal, leading to the filing of electoral lawsuits alleging a scheme that supposedly helped Castro win the 2022 gubernatorial election.

These hires were made for the Rio de Janeiro State Center for Statistics, Research and Training of Public Officials and for the State University of Rio de Janeiro.

The president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), Justice Carmen Lucia Antunes, scheduled the trial one day after the massive police operation that left 121 dead in Rio.

Considered a success by Castro, the operation was the bloodiest in the state’s history.

Several questions remain regarding the police intervention in the Rio favelas of Alemão and Penha, beginning with the true death toll, as 70 bodies were recovered in a wooded area by residents themselves the following day. abo/jav/npg/ocs