Lawyers for Fabiano Zettel have asked Brazilian Supreme Federal Court President Edson Fachin to revoke his preventive detention, citing months without mandatory legal review.
The petition was submitted on Thursday in proceedings examining alleged misconduct by Justice André Mendonça, the rapporteur overseeing the Master Case.
According to the defense team, Zettel has been held in preventive custody since March 2026 without any reassessment of whether the measure remains necessary. Under Brazilian criminal procedure, magistrates must periodically re-evaluate pretrial detention orders to confirm whether legal grounds for imprisonment still apply, ensuring that defendants are not kept in jail indefinitely without cause.
The lawyers said that by the time they submitted a formal review request on August 13, Zettel had already spent 162 days in custody without a judicial review.
Jurisdiction Dispute at the Supreme Court
Defense attorneys stated that they made multiple attempts to schedule discussions with Mendonça's office. Those efforts included a virtual meeting with the justice's advisors, written legal briefs, email messages, and a handwritten letter written by Zettel himself from detention.
Before the defense could obtain a response, Fachin ordered the case files of the Master Case transferred directly to the court presidency on September 12. In the Brazilian legal system, a case rapporteur typically retains primary jurisdiction over preliminary rulings, including bail and custody, but the defense argued that moving the physical records to the presidency has created uncertainty over which judge holds the legal authority to rule.
Consequently, the defense asked Fachin to examine the request for freedom immediately if he determines that taking possession of the proceedings also transferred responsibility for custody rulings to the presidency.
Request for Humanitarian House Arrest
If full revocation is not granted, the defense requested that Zettel's preventive imprisonment be replaced by milder cautionary measures, or at least humanitarian house arrest. They pointed out that his wife is pregnant with twins and the couple has a two-year-old child who depends on his father for care.
Zettel is the brother-in-law and former financial operator of businessman Daniel Vorcaro. The Supreme Federal Court, based in the federal capital of Brasília, serves as the highest court of appeal in Brazil, handling constitutional matters and sensitive federal inquiries.
