MADRID, 26 May. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
A Brazilian court on Thursday ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to pay 50,000 Brazilian reals (more than 9,200 euros) in compensation for moral damage to journalists.
The Fourth Special Law Chamber of the São Paulo Court of Justice upheld the sentence imposed by the previous court, despite halving the compensation amount.
Bolsonaro’s legal team, who would have had to return this payment to the State Fund for the Defense of Common Rights, whose purpose is to support the restoration of damage to the environment or to rights of an artistic or collective nature, “had,” claimed. never censored” and said his words referred to “specific professionals”, not the entire trade.
In April 2021, the Sao Paulo State Professional Journalists Syndicate (SJSP) filed a lawsuit against the former president to stop offending, legitimizing and disqualifying the journalism profession, as well as leaking reporters’ personal data.
Lawyer Raphael Maia, SJSP’s legal coordinator, argued that Bolsonaro’s statements were produced “in a hostile, disrespectful and insulting tone, using verbal violence, profanity, insulting, homophobic, xenophobic and misogynistic expressions”.
“(These) go beyond the rights to freedom of expression and amount to collective moral harassment of all categories of journalists who attack their press freedom and democracy because they have the power to instill fear in media professionals,” he said. .
Source: Noti Merica
