Federal Deputy Caroline de Toni (PL-SP), leader of the minority in the House, filed a bill last Thursday (5) in order to prevent the humorist Leo Lins from being criminalized.
He was and three months in prison by the 3rd Federal Criminal Court of São Paulo for prejudiced jokes made in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
“Journalists, deputies, humorists are being persecuted not by acts, but by words. You may not agree with what has been said and have every right to criticize, not go to the show, to stop following the artist. But prison for opinion is unacceptable in a democracy,” argues the deputy.
The proposal presented by De De Toni alters the Racial Crime Law (Law 7.716/1989) to guarantee amnesty to “individuals already convicted, or who are responding to criminal proceedings” based on two provisions that would be revoked in the legislation.
One of them typifies the crime when it occurs for purposes of relaxation, fun or recreation, while the other determines that the “judge should consider as discriminatory any attitude or treatment given to the person or minority groups that cause embarrassment, humiliation, shame, fear or improper exposure, and that would usually do not dispense with other groups due to color, ethnicity, religion or origin.”
The deputy justifies the text by saying that the fight against decriminalization is legitimate, but criticizing the sanction of Law No. 14.532/2023 by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) which, among other things, included the aggravating context of fun.
In the decision of the São Paulo court, it was appointed as aggravating the fact that Lins’s statements were made in this context.
“Throughout the show, the defendant admitted the prejudiced character of his anecdotes, showed neglect of the possible reaction of the victims and said he was aware that he could face legal problems due to the content of the speeches,” says an excerpt from the document.
Now, it is up to the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), forward the text to the thematic committees responsible for the analysis of Toni’s proposal.
