Lira obtains injunction that censors report on ex-wife – 07/14/2023 – Politics

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), obtained a favorable (provisional) injunction in the Federal District Court to withdraw from the air a report on the website Congresso em Foco in which his ex-wife Jullyene Lins accuses him of having committed sexual violence against her in 2006.

Jullyene previously claimed to have been kicked and punched by Lira on that same date, but the deputy was acquitted of this accusation by the STF (Federal Supreme Court) in 2015.

The decision to remove the report was taken by Judge Jayder Ramos de Araújo, from the 10th Civil Court of Brasilia, and was dated the 3rd – the case is under secrecy and the merits are yet to be judged.

The action for moral damages seeks compensation of BRL 100,000 and is between Jullyene and UOL —the company in which the Group Sheet has a minority stake—, which has a commercial relationship with the Congress in Focus with editorial independence.

In the decision, obtained by the SheetJayder says that “the issue of domestic violence in Brazil is serious” and that “the press has a relevant role in informing the population”, not fitting “any type of censorship to journalistic articles that denounce the practice of crimes against women in the scope of domestic relations”.

He argues, however, that the STF has already acquitted Lira of the accusations of aggression, in a final decision, noting that Jullyene claimed, in court, that she had not had physical contact between the two on the day of the alleged aggressions (later she claimed to have been coerced into paying this testimony).

“Faced with the acquittal of the author, with final judgment, supported by the victim’s own report, where she claims that she was not attacked by the author on November 6, 2006, it must be recognized that the journalistic article brings an untrue report and generates, unfairly , damage to the honor and image of the author.”

Lira’s advisory said he will not comment on the decision.

UOL’s lawyer Taís Gasparian stated that she will present a defense and appeal as she considers that UOL is an illegitimate party to the action. “UOL does not interfere, it is another company. They are different companies”, said Taís.

The lawyer also stated that she will speak on the merits of the case. “The decision is absurd, an affront to freedom of the press. The journalistic article is true and of obvious public interest.”

The founder of Congresso em Foco, Sylvio Costa, said that he decided to take the report off the air as soon as he learned of the judge’s decision and that the lawyers are analyzing the case to define the next steps.

“The lawsuit is against UOL, not against the Congress in Focus. However, we are the ones who have the power to take the article off the air, not UOL, with which we have a commercial partnership relationship, with editorial independence. obviously, different companies”, says Costa.

He added that the report was for informational purposes, with no intention of offending anyone. “It doesn’t seem right to me to prevent a serious accusation involving gender violence from coming to public knowledge.”

A Sheet was unable to speak with Jullyene until the publication of this report.

Lira has filed at least two other lawsuits in recent weeks in which she requests, as a matter of urgency, the removal of journalistic content, in addition to compensation for moral damages.

In these two cases, however, the judges denied the requested preliminary injunctions, which included a request to ban the publication of new reports on the cited cases. In all these actions, Lira has the former federal deputy and political ally Margarete Coelho (PP-PI) as her lawyer.

One of these lawsuits was filed on the 28th at the 14th Federal Court of Brasília against the investigative journalism agency Pública. The other, against the ICL Notícias channel. In both cases, Jullyene is also part of the passive pole.

In the case of Pública, the target is the report “Arthur Lira’s ex-wife accuses him of sexual violence”. Lira asks for compensation of R$ 100,000 and that Pública and Jullyene be banned from publishing other publications with the same content.

Judge Luis Carlos de Miranda rejected Lira’s injunction requests (the merits have not yet been judged).

A week before this action, the mayor had already entered the 24th Civil Court of Brasília against Jullyene and the ICL Notícias channel, maintained by businessman Eduardo Moreira and broadcast on YouTube.

There was also a request for an injunction to remove videos broadcast on the channel on June 6 from the air. The claim for damages is R$ 300,000.

Among other points, the videos address a Federal Police investigation into the acquisition of robotics kits and the accusations made against him by Julyenne.

Judge Gustavo Fernandes Sales denied the preliminary injunctions, claiming to avoid the “risk of imposing true censorship on freedom of the press”.

Pública, ICL and press associations repudiated the lawsuits filed by Lira.