Teori Albino Zavascki (15 August 1948 – 19 January 2017) was a Brazilian

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

who served as a Minister of the Superior Court of Justice from 8 May 2003 until 29 November 2012, appointed by President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

, and as a Minister of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil from 29 November 2012 until his death on 19 January 2017, having been appointed to the position by President

Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the only woman to have held the ...

. At the time of his death he was the justice in charge of the trials resulting from

Operation Car Wash Operation Car Wash (, ) was a landmark anti-corruption probe in Brazil.Kurtenbach, S., & Nolte, D. (2017). Latin America's Fight against Corruption: The End of Impunity. GIGA Focus Lateinamerika, (03). Beginning in March 2014 as the investiga ...

Death

Zavascki was killed in an airplane crash in

Paraty Paraty (or Parati, ) is a preserved Portuguese colonial (1500–1822) and Brazilian Imperial (1822–1889) municipality with a population of about 43,000. The name "Paraty" originates from the local Guaianá Indians' indigenous Tupi language, ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

around 2:00 PM (16:00 GMT) on Thursday, 19 January 2017. Official enquiries into the crash began on 20 January and the

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

was recovered. Also killed were four other people on board, including the pilot, and , a partner in

BTG Pactual BTG Pactual is a Brazilian financial company that operates in the markets of investment banking, wealth management, asset management, corporate lending and sales and trading. It offers advisory services in mergers and acquisitions, wealth pla ...

, whose president,

André Esteves André Santos Esteves (born July 12, 1968) is a Brazilian billionaire businessman. Among Brazilian billionaires, Esteves is ranked sixth with a net worth of US$6.9 billion, according to ''Forbes'', as of March 2025. He is senior partner and chair ...

, had been arrested in the

investigation. More than 200 politicians and business people were possibly implicated in a graft scheme that Zavascki was investigating.

Final investigation results

On 22 January 2018, the

Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center The Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (, CENIPA) is a unit of the Brazilian Air Force that investigates aviation accidents and incidents in Brazil. It is headquartered in Brasília. See also * Gol Transportes Aéreos Fl ...

(Centro de Investigação e Prevenção de Accidentes Aeronáuticos, CENIPA) presented their final report. The conclusion was that there was no shortage of kerosene. The crash was attributed to three major factors: * Bad visual climate conditions. At the time of the crash, the horizontal visibility was 1500 meters and the rainfall was 25 mm/h. * Cultural practices of the pilots: the investigations found that several pilots who fly in the region relied heavily on their experience and do not follow strict security procedures, including informal practices which inhibit an adequate analysis of the risks involved in this specific landing procedure. * Spatial disorientation: as a consequence of the bad visibility, the flight curve executed, the low level above the sea and the stress of the pilot, he probably lost control of the plane.

References

, - Judges {{DEFAULTSORT:Zavascki, Teori 1948 births 2017 deaths People from Santa Catarina (state) Brazilian people of Polish descent Supreme Federal Court of Brazil justices 21st-century judges Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Brazil Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2017