AGU asks for punishment for lies about Faustão transplant

After the internet was flooded with dubious posts referring to the transplant of presenter Fausto Silva, known as Faustão, the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) determined that the National Attorney for the Defense of Democracy identify and punish those who disseminated false information about the case. The Attorney’s Office is the body created by the Lula government, without support in the Constitution, to supposedly combat “disinformation”, avoiding criticism of the government and public agents (read more below).

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According to the AGU, the action aims to protect the image of the public organ, tissue and cell transplant program, which is considered the largest in the world, according to the Ministry of Health, but has become the target of questioning and discredit. in the last days.

“The large amount of fake news about the National Transplant System (SNT) has caused concern”, said the minister of AGU, Jorge Messias, on Twitter.

For this reason, he informs that he has ordered “the National Attorney of the Union for the Defense of Democracy (PNDD) to assess the situation and act immediately to protect this important public policy for the country”, continued the post.

For the constitutionalist lawyer André Marsiglia, the AGU measure is inappropriate, since, in the case of crimes against honor, such as slander, the interested party himself should be the author of the legal measure. “Disinformation about public policy cannot be confused with misinformation about the conduct of public officials who take care of the transplant queue, even less about the irregular conduct of the person waiting for the organ, in this case, Faustão”, he says. “The AGU is a State body, it cannot be used to monitor criticism of the government and its policies.”

Currently, SUS is responsible for 88% of transplants performed in the country and “has been making efforts, above all, in formulating strategies aimed at increasing supply and reducing the waiting time for patients on the list”, according to the Ministry of Health. In terms of quantity, Brazil is the second country that performs the most transplants, behind only the United States.

In the case of Faustão, due to his serious health condition, the presenter occupied second place in the waiting list for a heart. The medical team responsible for Fausto received the offer of the organ early this Sunday (27), after the doctors of the patient who occupied the first position refused the organ.

The presenter has blood type B, for which the waiting time for a heart transplant is usually one to three months. His surgery was performed 22 days after being admitted to Albert Einstein Hospital.

“Ministry of Truth”

Since the beginning of 2023, the Lula government has been trying to reduce the amount of criticism and questioning of the public power, in a dangerous way for freedom of expression, in the view of jurists. On his first day as president, two decrees created the National Prosecutor’s Office for the Defense of Democracy, as well as the Department for the Promotion of Freedom of Expression.

The objective, among other things, is “to represent the Union, judicially and extrajudicially, in demands and procedures for responding to and confronting misinformation about public policies”. This means that any member of the public power has at his disposal a Union body capable of representing him in court in any case that fits into the broad and generic concept of “disinformation”, which facilitates censorship by the public power.

The AGU body has even been called the “Ministry of Truth” and raises the fear of censorship against opponents, since criticism supported by the Constitution through freedom of expression can be confused with “disinformation”.