Personal offense does not attack democracy, experts say

The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, and retired Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Ricardo Lewandowski argued that the insults directed at Minister Alexandre de Moraes and his family members by a group of Brazilians at Rome airport, last Friday (14), can be understood as a crime against the democratic rule of law. However, this assessment was contested by criminal experts consulted by the People’s Gazette.

The crime of “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law” consists of “attempting, using violence or serious threat, to abolish the democratic rule of law, preventing or restricting the exercise of constitutional powers”. The penalty ranges from 4 to 8 years in prison.

But, for criminalists, it would be an exaggeration to consider that cursing an authority abroad would threaten democracy and the rule of law in Brazil.

“As much as the law has scope, it is not plausible that someone cursing a minister is an attempt to abolish the Democratic State [de Direito]. As abject as conduct may be, it does not configure”, says José Nabuco Filho.

“In theory, personal offense does not attack the democratic state, because it is not harmful enough to do so. On the 8th of January, it was something much bigger. In this specific case, I believe it is not possible”, says Matheus Falivene.

A similar opinion was presented by former deputy Deltan Dallagnol. Through social networks, he criticized the possibility of framing the episode involving the minister as a threat to Brazilian democracy.

“It seems that the 3 people suspected of harassing the minister would overthrow the Brazilian government with a few curses of “communist” and install a provisional government from the airport in Rome, in Italy”, stated Dallagnol.