Brazilian court upholds conviction of former president Bolsonaro for moral harassment of journalists

By Diego Vera

On Thursday, the Court of Justice of São Paulo upheld a sentence to pay compensation for moral damages to journalists that a first-instance judge had imposed on former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) last year.

The Fourth Chamber of Private Law of the second instance court confirmed the sentence issued in June 2022 by the 24th civil judge of São Paulo. It only modified the value of the compensation that the ultra-right-wing leader has to pay, which it reduced by half.

The court reduced the compensation of R$100,000 (about US$20,000) imposed by the judge to R$50,000 (approximately US$10,000).

As a result of the decision, the leader of the Liberal Party (PL) must deposit the amount of the indemnity in the accounts of the Regional Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights, which will use it in actions in defense of freedom of the press.

The magistrates of the second instance court accepted the arguments of the Union of Professional Journalists of the State of Sao Paulo that the then head of state incurred the crime of moral harassment for his constant attacks on the press and that he must compensate them for collective moral damages.

Although Bolsonaro’s defense argued that there was never censorship in his government and that his attacks were directed at some journalists in particular and not at the entire professional guild, the Justice considered that the then-president abused his right to freedom of expression to offend the press.

According to the union that filed the complaint, Bolsonaro “attacked the freedom of the press itself and democracy because, in a hostile, disrespectful and humiliating manner, with the use of verbal violence, rudeness, and pejorative, homophobic, xenophobic and misogynist expressions, he extrapolated his right to freedom of expression and morally assaulted the collective”.

According to data from the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, Bolsonaro was the author of 557 aggressions against the media and its professionals in 2022, which intensified during the campaign for the October presidential elections, in which the progressive Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated him.

According to data from the same association, the far-right leader’s attacks on the press jumped from 130 in 2019, his first year in office, to 453 in 2021 and 557 last year.

With information from EFE

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