Journalists are the target of censorship and actions for documentary – 03/13/2023 – Politics

Journalists Eduardo Reina and Camilo Toscano are the target of lawsuits brought by the judge Ricardo Vital de Almeida, due to the documentary “Justiça Contaminada – The Lavajatista Theater of Operation Calvário in Paraíba”, released last year.

Entities representing journalists classify the episode as legal persecution against professionals.

In 2022, Judge Adhemar de Paula Leite Ferreira Néto, from the 3rd Entrance, ordered the removal of the video from the channels where it was released, at the risk of a fine of BRL 500 per day up to a limit of BRL 30,000.

The documentary has a critical tone to what it classifies as car washes during Operation Calvário, launched in 2019, which appointed former Paraíba governor Ricardo Coutinho (former PSB, today in the PT) as the leader of a criminal organization that collected bribes in state contracts In the health area.

The former governor has said that the operation was a setup with political persecution.

In the documentary, it is mentioned that the judge Ricardo Vital de Almeida and the prosecutor Octávio Paulo Neto, from the Public Ministry (MP-PB), were called by the local press “Moro e Dallagnol da Paraíba”, in a comparison with the former judge and now Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil) and former prosecutor and now federal deputy Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos), who acted in Operation Lava Jato.

In the action, the judge maintains that the film contains “several words that are offensive to his image and his honor”.

He asks for payment of compensation for moral damages of 40 minimum wages, that journalists refrain from broadcasting any comment offensive to the magistrate’s image and that the broadcasting of the “illicit video” be suspended.

Judge Ferreira Néto rejected a request for journalists to refrain from offensive comments to the magistrate, on the grounds that it would be prior censorship. The merits of the main action have not yet been adjudicated.

According to journalist Eduardo Reina, there are a total of three lawsuits running on the matter. He stated to Sheet consider that it is a question of curtailing freedom of expression and of the press.

“I looked for the magistrate numerous times. I sent, for example, three emails to his personal address, I looked for it via the press office of the Court of Justice, I looked for his head of office, I sent a list with ten questions that he could answer if he didn’t want to give an interview in person,” he said.

For entities representing journalists, the action and censorship constitute legal persecution against Reina and Toscano.

“The entire lawsuit filed against Eduardo Reina and Camilo Toscano is, in fact, yet another absurd and unacceptable attempt to curtail journalistic activity”, says a note published by the Network for the Protection of Journalists and Communicators, led by the Vladimir Herzog Institute and by Artigo 19.

The entity repudiates the censorship of the documentary. “As if that were not enough, the criminalization of injury, slander and defamation poses a risk to freedom of expression, especially when dealing with public figures, politicians and issues of public interest”, says the network’s note.

The report sought the judge Ricardo Vital since Saturday (11) via phone and email from the office, as well as through the press office of the Court of Justice, but did not receive a response.

Divided into several episodes, the documentary that motivated the legal dispute treats Operation Calvário as a case of lawfare, the use of law with the aim of persecuting a person or groups. In the documentary, there are reports of the use of the award-winning accusations in a similar way to Lava Jato.

In the action against the journalists, the magistrate claims to be portrayed as a “partial judge, authoritarian and adhering to conspiracies”.

During the operation, Coutinho and other people were arrested in the action that investigated an alleged embezzlement of R$ 134.2 million from the state health area.

In early 2020, he was denounced in state court. In 2021, the defense obtained a decision by the STF to send the case to the Electoral Justice of Paraíba, on the grounds that the facts involved campaign funds.

However, the electoral court decided to return the process to the common courts, as it understood that the complaint did not specify electoral irregularities.

Last June, Minister Gilmar Mendes again declared the incompetence of the common Justice and reaffirmed the attribution of the Electoral Justice.