The Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo sentenced the president of Condepe (State Council for the Defense of Human Rights of São Paulo), to pay a fine for comparing him to the Nazi dictator.
Santiago was convicted of the crime of defamation carried out through a means that facilitated dissemination (social media). In the decision, judge Suzana Jorge de Mattia Ihara, from the 1st Regional Criminal Court I Santana, determined that he will have to pay a 23-day fine, equivalent to R$1,082 (considering the minimum wage of R$1,412 in 2024).
Santiago’s post, made at the end of June last year, portrays and calls him “DeHitler”. A sentence is also reproduced in which the secretary said that “it is shameful for a police officer not to have at least three deaths on his CV”. Derrite, a former Rota police officer, later apologized for the statement.
The judge stated that it was “certain that the presentation of the facts, as carried out, with association with Adolf Hitler, Nazi and genocide, responsible for the systematic extermination of millions of people, reached the plaintiff’s concept [Derrite] in professional and social environments, having harmful repercussions.”
“Freedom of expression is one of the pillars of the Democratic Rule of Law, but it is not an absolute right, which is why, in the case of abuse, it is permissible to determine responsibility, in a regular process, in accordance with the law, aiming to demonstrate of possible criminal intent in order to disparage the victim”, he continues.
The decision highlights the position held by Santiago and states that, “given the seriousness of this noble role, if he intended to guide his followers and criticize the conduct of the State Secretary of Public Security of São Paulo, a public figure, he should have used objective and technical terms, relating to concrete facts, without changing images and associations with genocides in a joking manner.”
When contacted, Santiago said he will appeal the decision through his lawyers.
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