Justice orders to exclude names of whistleblowers from reports – 02/27/2023 – Power

Whistleblowers in an operation that has already taken seven mayors of Santa Catarina to prison had their names removed by court order from reports published on TV and on the internet by the NSC communication group.

The exclusion of the names was determined on Friday (24) by the judge Cinthia Beatriz da Silva Bittencourt Schaefer, from the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina, who responded to a request from whistleblowers and also from the Public Ministry, responsible for the operation, named Messenger . Appeal is possible.

In her decision, the judge defended freedom of the press, but cited threats against whistleblowers and excerpts from the law that establishes that the identity of Justice collaborators will not be revealed, without their prior authorization, by the media.

“There are already reports of possible attempts at intimidation in the face of lesser investigators in the alleged criminal organization by unconventional and even violent means, which are even the subject of investigation in their own means”, she wrote.

For the NSC, the magistrate set a deadline for the removal of the names of the whistleblowers in the reports already published, with a daily fine of R$ 100 thousand in case of non-compliance, and extended the prohibition of revealing the identities of the awarded collaborators to all communication vehicles . The determination has already been fulfilled.

wanted by Sheet, the NSC sent a note, in which it says it will appeal. “Informed about the judicial decision, NSC complied immediately and filed a writ of mandamus, requesting its reform.”

NSC is the largest communication company in Santa Catarina, comprising TV affiliated with Globo, an internet portal, radio and print.

The Public Ministry, sought by the Sheet this Monday (27th), it sent a note, in which it states that it “only manifested itself by granting the exclusion request and prohibiting the names of the collaborators of the Messenger Operation from being disclosed, based on Law 12.850/13”.

The whistleblowers made other requests to the state court – in addition to the exclusion of the names, they wanted the initiation of a police investigation against an NSC journalist for committing, in theory, the crime provided for in article 18 of Law 12.850/2013, which is ” revealing the identity, photographing or filming the collaborator, without his prior written authorization”, and which provides for imprisonment of one to three years and a fine.

But the judge denied the request, stating that she did not see the slightest evidence of the presence of malice by the journalist.

Operation Mensageiro investigates whether there was corruption in the garbage collection area with the participation of public agents and businessmen. All derived procedures are handled confidentially.

On the issue of secrecy, the judge writes in her decision that, despite the exclusion of the names of the whistleblowers in the reports, the press cannot be prevented from disclosing facts and information about the operation, under penalty of affront to the democratic rule of law. She also recalls the possibility of safeguarding the secrecy of the source by the journalist when necessary for professional practice.

“Although the procedural actors must maintain complete secrecy of the records, this, a priori, does not include the press, which has the fundamental right and social responsibility to inform the population about the facts of interest to them”, she says.

In another part of her decision, the magistrate preaches discretion in her reporting and says that a judge should speak only in the case file, “away from any spotlight or circumstance that could remove the necessary equidistance”.

Without specifically mentioning Operation Lava Jato, she also stated: “Therefore, even if, in the past, public agents in this country may have acted, in parts, in a different way, it is the profile of this subscriber to follow only the law and value discretion” .

The Special Group to Combat Criminal Organizations (Gaeco) and the Special Anti-Corruption Group, both linked to the Public Ministry of Santa Catarina, are at the head of Operation Messenger, which has already had three phases and has 40 processes.

In the first phase, launched last December, more than one hundred search and seizure warrants were authorized in various regions of the state.