Justice prohibits tribute to Michelle Bolsonaro at Municipal – 03/23/2024 – Mônica Bergamo

Judge Martin Vargas, from the 10th Chamber of Public Law of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP), prohibited the ceremony to hand over the title of São Paulo citizen to former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro at the São Paulo Municipal Theater.

The event is scheduled for next Monday (25). The decision, handed down on Friday night (22), responds to an appeal presented by federal deputy Erika Hilton (PSOL-SP) and activist Amanda Paschoal.

In a first instance decision, judge Paula Micheletto Cometti, from the 12th Public Finance Court of the TJ-SP, had allowed the event to take place. The parliamentarian and the activist then appealed.

Now, judge Martins Vargas, in a monocratic decision, ordered that the ceremony take place at the São Paulo City Council, under penalty of a fine of R$50,000 if the determination is not complied with.

He states that there is “compelling evidence” that the transfer of the event to the Municipal Theater violates “the principles of public administration”.

The filed action denounced that the event would generate extra expenses for the public authorities and would have “visibly political and electoral” characteristics. The current mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes (MDB), is a pre-candidate for re-election and is supported by former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Michelle’s husband.

Furthermore, Erika and Paschoal stated that the transfer of the theater has “exclusively political purposes, without any artistic nature or cultural formation” and, therefore, would be “incompatible with the nature of the space and Brazilian legislation itself”.

The theater was provided by the Ricardo Nunes administration following a request from councilor Rinaldi Digilio (União Brasil). The city hall says that the request “was treated as a non-onerous assignment, given that the requester was a public entity.”

Judge Martins Vargas, however, states that there are minimal costs for holding the event.

“The documents that form the initial statement, for now, demonstrated the existence of a minimum value charge, corresponding to costs related to the operations necessary to carry out the requested event, such as the hiring of extra producers, audience advisors and other providers services for monitoring the event, property security, brigade members, cleaning, cleaning and sanitary supplies, generator and air conditioning, among others, even in the event of a non-onerous transfer of the Municipal Theater space”, says the decision.

And it continues: “Consequently, the possible non-observance of the duty to protect the treasury by the public agent creates a relevant risk of violation of the administrative morality that imposes the exercise of judicial control”.

Normally, ceremonies of this type take place in the Chamber itself. In the request to hold the event at the Municipal Theater, councilor Rinaldo Digilio stated that the legislative space would not accommodate the number of guests.

“In this sense, the possible pertinent justification for the supposed lack of physical space in the Anchieta Palace to accommodate the public present at the ceremony stands out, which is not consistent with the information extracted from the Chamber of Deputies’ own website, in the sense that the event will be broadcast live on the CâmaraSãoPaulo channel on Youtube and, also, with the news of limited distribution of tickets by the aggrieved councilor Rinaldi Digilio on social media, with the exception that ‘spaces are limited’ from what is extracted, for now, the conclusion that the ceremony of citizen representative essence has gained a particular connotation”, the decision further states.

Regarding the complaint that the event supposedly constituted early electoral propaganda, the judge said that “it is not within the jurisdiction of this court, and must be postulated in a competent electoral context”.

The legislative decree that gives Michelle the honor was approved by the São Paulo City Council in November last year.

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