Bolsonaro is ordered to pay R$50,000 to a journalist for moral damages

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was definitively ordered to pay compensation in the amount of R$50,000 for collective damage in a lawsuit filed, in 2021, by the São Paulo Journalists Union. Bolsonaro was sued for jokingly saying that journalist Patrícia Campos Mello, from Folha de São Paulo, wanted to “give the scoop”.

The comment was made in the context of the controversial Fake News CPI in relation to the episode involving the journalist and former Yacows employee, Hans River.

At the time, River said in testimony to the Commission that the journalist had made sexual advances towards him to obtain information for a story he was working on about the alleged sending of illegal messages during the presidential campaign.

Even under pressure from the left, River said he was unaware of the use of the illegal practice in the campaign of then-candidate Jair Bolsonaro, but said he was aware of the practice in the campaigns of PT candidates.

When commenting on the case, the former president said that journalist Patrícia Campos Mello wanted to “get a scoop at any price” to accuse him.

After the repercussion, the journalist denied the version presented by Hans River and Bolsonaro’s statement began to be treated as an “attack on the press”.

Initially, the action was filed for R$100,000, but when it passed through the second instance, the amount was revised. The former president did not appeal and the action became final.

In the first instance decision, judge Tamara Hochgreb Matos, from the 24th Civil Court of São Paulo, said that Bolsonaro abused the right to freedom of expression to offend press professionals.

In another lawsuit filed against the former president for the same reason, Bolsonaro had already been ordered to compensate the journalist R$35,000.