The lengthy appeals that have allowed the 25 politicians and businessmen found guilty in the mensalão (big monthly stipend), a vast political-corruption scandal uncovered in 2005, to stay out of jail after sentencing last December are a fine example of the breed. They were found guilty by the supreme court. Their crimes were serious, including bribery, money-laundering and corruption. Some of their sentences were well above eight years, which under Brazilian law makes them ineligible to be served in a low-security prison or commuted to house arrest, community service or a fine. And yet all 25 have been able to remain at liberty. Four have continued to hold seats in Congress.

But on November 13th, for at least some of the mensaleiros, there will be no more jabuticabas. The supreme court dismissed, in just a few hours, arcane appeals that had no chance of changing any sentences but merely sought clarification of supposed omissions or obscurities in the judgments. The appeals were “procrastinatory in nature”, said the judges, brought for no other reason than to delay the moment that sentences would be carried out. Following that statement of the obvious came the real shock: the court declared the sentences should be carried out immediately and that arrest warrants would be issued in the coming days.

That was particularly surprising because in September, 12 of the defendants had managed to persuade the supreme court to accept another Brazilian oddity: a fresh trial in the same court—the highest in the land. Those who had been found guilty of at least one of their crimes by a narrow majority will now be retried in 2014, though just for those particular crimes. Other sentences still stand. In a couple of high-profile cases this really matters: José Dirceu, who served as chief of staff from 2003 to 2005 for former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was found guilty of several crimes, with sentences totalling ten years and ten months in jail. But his conviction for conspiracy could now be overturned—and if it is, the total will fall below the crucial eight-year cut-off, allowing him to avoid a spell in a closed jail.

Many Brazilians, made cynical by their country’s long history of lenience when it comes criminals who are rich and powerful, still doubt that the prison doors will ever clang shut on Mr Dirceu and the politically well-connected among his partners in crime. And it has not escaped comment that by "slicing" the sentences of those who will have fresh trials next year, the supreme court gave him the right to start his sentence in a low-security prison, where he will be free to come and go during the day, returning just to sleep at night. If his full sentence is finally upheld, that time will be subtracted from the total he has to spend in a closed jail. Pedro Henry, another mensaleiro, will also be going to an open prison, where he can perhaps try to combine his current job of lawmaker with his new role as convict. Plenty of jabuticabas still remain.