TSE maintains Bolsonaro fine of 20,000 for meeting with ambassadors

The President of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Minister Alexandre de Moraes, decided, this Thursday (14), to maintain the R$20,000 fine applied against former President Jair Bolsonaro in the case of the meeting with ambassadors, held in July. last year, at Palácio da Alvorada.

The decision referred to an appeal filed by Bolsonaro’s defense against the conviction, where they questioned the competence of the Electoral Justice to judge the issue and maintained that the fine offends the former president’s freedom of expression.

By denying the appeal, Moraes said that the TSE recognized that the Constitution does not protect “disinformation against the legitimacy of elections”. The minister also said that Bolsonaro’s conduct in the episode “extrapolated the limits of acting as Head of State”, and that is why the TSE’s role in the case is legitimate.

The R$20,000 fine was applied by the TSE, in September last year, after the court found that the former president’s speeches, during the July 18 meeting, characterized irregular electoral propaganda about untrue facts to affect the integrity of the electoral process.

In August, the TSE determined the removal of videos and content about Bolsonaro’s meeting with ambassadors from social networks. Minister Maria Claudia Bucchianeri, rapporteur for the case, voted to condemn the president to pay the fine. The other ministers of the Electoral Court Alexandre de Moraes, Ricardo Lewandowski, Cármen Lúcia, Benedito Gonçalves, Raul Araújo and Sergio Banhos followed the rapporteur’s understanding.