Decisions in the US discourage Lula over Allan dos Santos – 7/2/2023 – Panel

Decisions by the US Supreme Court in the last week regarding cases related to the subject of freedom of expression further discouraged the Ministry of Justice of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government in its objective of obtaining the extradition of Bolsonarist influencer Allan dos Santos , who has been in the country since 2020.

Allan has been considered a fugitive since his preventive detention was ordered in the fake news inquiry, in 2021, at the request of the Federal Police. He is the target of investigations that are being processed in the Federal Supreme Court about the existence of a digital militia to attack democracy and institutions.

After the arrest order, Brazil called the United States, through the DRCI (Department of Asset Recovery and International Cooperation), and sent the request to Interpol for inclusion in the red broadcast. In general, the inclusion occurs quickly, which did not happen this time —in an unprecedented way, as shown by the Sheet.

As revealed by the Panel, in January, Flávio Dino’s portfolio contacted the US government and Interpol, in Lyon (France), with the aim of accelerating the extradition process.

Since then, however, the procedures have not evolved, and the perception in the ministry is that a successful outcome is unlikely. This is because the way in which the United States legally addresses the issue of freedom of expression, in which the influencer case is inserted, is quite different from the Brazilian way, which is comparatively more restrictive.

The two cases of the last week were seen by representatives of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice as emblematic in relation to the difficulties they face in getting Allan dos Santos sent to Brazil.

On Tuesday (27), the US Supreme Court reversed the conviction of a Colorado man, Billy Counterman, who sent thousands of messages on Facebook – including statements previously interpreted as death threats – to a singer who never arrived. to meet in person. The understanding was that the defendant would be protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.

Lorie Smith, an evangelical designer from the same state, benefited from a similar interpretation by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the right to free speech allows her to refuse to design products for gay couples.

In recent years in Brazil, during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) administration, the Federal Supreme Court and other instances of Justice have acted to affirm that freedom of expression is not absolute and does not entail the commission of crimes.

The tension led to the ex-president’s declaration of ineligibility. Bolsonaro and his allies argue that he made use of freedom of expression by inviting foreign ambassadors to a meeting in July last year, three months before the elections, and making false and distorted claims about the electoral process, claiming to be based on official data. , in addition to seeking to discredit TSE ministers.

In the understanding of most TSE ministers, however, he committed abuse of political power and misuse of the means of communication.

Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino has also reinforced the argument that freedom of expression cannot be absolute in his clash with the large technology companies that operate in Brazil, especially Twitter, pressuring them to create more mechanisms to prevent the dissemination of content that may encourage acts of violence and articulating for the implementation of regulations such as those provided for in the Fake News PL.

A Datafolha survey released this Saturday (1st) showed the position of Brazilians on the subject. For 61%, it is not possible to post anything on social networks, while 38% believe that this should be the rule.

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