Federal Prosecutor Urges Supreme Court to ban Seizure of Books at the Rio Biennale

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Federal Prosecutor General, Raquel Dodge, urged the Federal Supreme Court (STF), this Sunday morning, September 8th, to suspend Saturday’s court decision allowing the seizure of works in the Rio de Janeiro Book Biennale. LGBT-themed works are targeted by Marcelo Crivella, Rio’s mayor.

Dodge’s request – which may be rejected by the Supreme Court – is yet one more chapter in the judicial debate surrounding the literary fair, which ends this Sunday at Riocentro. The mayor of Rio, Marcelo Crivella, determined on Thursday, September 5th, the collection of books considered “unsuitable for minors”.

Supported by a ruling of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice President, Judge Cláudio de Mello Tavares, plainclothes inspectors of Marcelo Crivella’s Public Order Department (SEOP) conducted a sweep of the three pavilions at the Biennale on Saturday afternoon.

“No violation of legal standards was found,” said Colonel Wolney Dias, Undersecretary of Operations of SEOP, at the end of the inspection.

The penultimate day of the Biennale also featured the distribution of LGBT-themed books and a protest against Crivella, with kisses and slogans.

During the demonstration, Raquel Dodge said that the measure “aims to prevent censorship of the free flow of ideas, free artistic expression and freedom of expression in the country”.

“The decision now being challenged is a direct violation of equality, freedom of artistic expression and the right to information, which are highly valued by the 1988 Constitution, by international human rights treaties ratified by Brazil and even by several Federal Supreme Court precedents,” wrote Dodge.

For Dodge, there is “generic censorship”.

“The Book Biennale clearly represents an event in which authors and readers exercise these rights, which cannot be curtailed by the generic claim that they deal with ‘homotransexualism issues’. The Statute of the Child and Adolescent should not be invoked here, since the subject in question is not offensive to ethical and moral values or aggressive to the individual or to the family,” she said.

Timeline

THURSDAY, September 5th

At night, Crivella says he will have copies of “Avengers, the Children’s Crusade” collected. “Guys, we need to protect our children. That’s why we have ordered the organizers of the Biennale to collect books with inappropriate content for minors. It’s not right for them to have early access to issues that aren’t in line with their age,” the mayor said. The Biennale says it won’t remove books and that it provides “a voice for all audiences”.

FRIDAY, September 6th

Within 39 minutes, all copies are sold out in just over half an hour. In the afternoon, municipal inspectors go to the Biennale to find and seal books deemed “inappropriate”.
The Biennale appeals to the courts to ensure the “full operation of the event”. At night, the judge grants an injunction. The Brazilian Bar Association says that the city does not have the power to collect books. Inspection does not find content in ‘disagreement with the legislation’.

SATURDAY, September 7th

In the morning, the youtuber Felipe Neto’s team gives out 14 thousand LGBT-themed books for free. In the afternoon, a new decision of the TJ-RJ overturns the preliminary injunction and allows the collection of unsealed LGBT-themed books intended for youths and children.
Inspectors return to the pavilions and announce an undercover sweep. In the evening, the Biennale’s visitors ‘kiss’ against Crivella’s order to seize books and shout slogans against the mayor. SEOP claims to have found nothing irregular. Dean of the STF, Minister Celso de Mello classified the censorship of books at the Rio Biennial as a “very serious fact”.

SUNDAY, September 8th

Raquel Dodge, the Federal Prosecutor General urged the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to allow the Biennale to operate without the risk of Crivella’s “generic censorship”.

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