STJ minister Og Fernandes ordered the preventive arrest of Bahia appellate judge Sandra Inês Moraes Rusciolelli Azevedo after she allegedly fled to Portugal. The order followed a request from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), citing flight risk after prosecutors said the judge and her son, lawyer Vasco Rusciolelli Azevedo, moved to Portugal and gave false residential addresses to the Justice system. Fernandes authorized immediate steps by the Federal Police and Interpol to add the pair to the fugitives list and approved sending the arrest request for extradition to Portuguese authorities. The minister said the alleged evasion of Brazilian territory, the failure to comply with precautionary measures, and the concealment of their whereabouts showed a concrete risk of frustrating criminal law. Both were sentenced by the STJ Special Court to prison terms in a case connected to Operação Faroeste. Azevedo was convicted for passive corruption and money laundering and received a sentence of 14 years and 20 days, with the judgment set under a closed initial prison regime. Vasco Rusciolelli Azevedo was convicted of passive corruption, money laundering and criminal association and sentenced to 13 years and 11 months. The STJ panel also ordered the compulsory retirement of Azevedo, with the closure of payment benefits. In the same session, the court sentenced businessman Nelson José Vigolo to four years and one month under house arrest and lawyer Vanderlei Chilante to four years and 11 months under a semi-open initial regime. Both were found guilty of active corruption and money laundering, while being acquitted of the criminal organization charge. The court granted a pardon to whistleblower Júlio Cesar Cavalcanti Ferreira. Operação Faroeste, run by the Federal Police, investigates a corruption scheme in Bahia’s judiciary involving magistrates, lawyers and entrepreneurs, focusing on influencing judicial decisions in land disputes in the west of the state. According to the court’s understanding, investigators found suspicions that undue payments were made to sway rulings affecting rural properties. Most recently, the STJ also sentenced appellate judge Maria do Socorro Barreto Santiago to 14 years and 11 months and retired judge Sérgio Humberto de Quadros Sampaio to 15 years and eight months in related proceedings. Fernandes’ decision now puts Azevedo and her son in preventive custody while their fugitives status and extradition request to Portugal are processed.