Federal deputy General Girão (-RN) was sentenced by the Federal Court to pay R$ 2 million in collective moral damages on charges of encouraging undemocratic acts after the .
The decision also establishes a fine for the Union due to a joint note signed by commanders of the Armed Forces in the Bolsonaro government in the midst of the coup camps and determines the holding of a public ceremony with an apology. There is an appeal.
In Girão’s case, the 4th Federal Court of Rio Grande do Norte ordered him to delete, within ten days, publications on Instagram, Facebook and X related to post-election events.
For the prosecutors of the Federal Public Ministry in Rio Grande do Norte, who brought the action in 2023, the deputy actively used social media to incite anti-democratic demonstrations, especially the continuation of a Bolsonarist camp set up in 2022, in front of the 16th Battalion of Motorized Infantry, in Natal.
The report sought representatives from Girão’s defense and members of the parliamentary cabinet, but has not received a response so far. The decision may be appealed.
Girão was one of the parliamentarians who questioned the legality of the 2022 election, in which () won the former president (PL) in the second round. In publications, the PL deputy stated that only the people were “capable of dismissing and overthrowing” governments.
The Federal Court’s decision was handed down in the week that marked two years.
In the sentence, judge Janilson de Siqueira states that Girão’s speeches violated “the Rule of Law, the legal order and the democratic regime, threatening the legitimacy of the electoral process and the actions of the Judiciary”.
The judge also states that the publications constitute “hate speech against democratic institutions with the dissemination of false news about the results of the elections, confusing and inciting the people and the Armed Forces to subvert the democratic order.”
The decision also determined that the Union, state and municipality pay R$1 million in collective moral damages for allowing the camps to continue and condemns the Union to pay R$2 million in compensation on account of one by the then commanders of the Navy, Army and Air Force. , in November 2022.
The understanding is that three public written statements, signed by the Armed Forces, gave Bolsonaro supporters the understanding that the camps were legal. The Army, Navy and Air Force called the anti-democratic acts “popular demonstrations”.
In a note signed by the commanders at the time — Admiral Almir Garnier Santos (Navy), General Marco Antônio Freire Gomes (Army) and Lieutenant-Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior (Aeronautics) — the word “people” appears every time in a box high, while “democracy” and “democratic rule of law” appeared in lowercase letters.
For the Federal Court, the note encouraged “the mistaken idea of the legitimacy of false insurrection speeches, which gave rise to a favorable environment for the attempt on January 8, 2023”, states the Federal Court in the ruling.
In the sentence, the judge determines that the Union promotes, within 60 days, a public apology ceremony, with the participation of the commanders of the Armed Forces.
The Union will also have to promote a training course for Brazilian military personnel to revisit the episode of undemocratic acts in 2022.
