The former president () was convicted by the Federal District Court of Justice and Territories to pay R $ 150,000 compensation for moral damages for improperly used images of children in the 2022 campaign and said.
The judgment (collegiate decision) of the trial was published on Thursday (24).
The defense of the former president said he received the decision with surprise, that the grounds of the court disregard decisions of higher cuts on the subject, and will appeal to (Superior Court of Justice).
The TJ-DFT decision was made from a request of what it stated that Bolsonaro led to children to make gun gestures with their hands during a visit to the Planalto Palace at the time of their reelection campaign in 2022, when he was defeated by the President (PT).
The prosecutor also mentions the episode in which he referred to Venezuelan migrant teenagers in October of the same year.
At the time, the then president was exploring a recurring theme of his campaign – the alleged risk of Brazil “becoming a Venezuela” if Lula returned to power – when he reported a meeting he had with girls from the neighboring country in São Sebastião, on the outskirts of the Federal District.
“I stopped the bike on a corner, took the helmet and looked at some little girls, three, four, beautiful; 14, 15 years old, tidy on a Saturday in a community. And I saw that they were a little similar. He painted a mood, I came back, ‘can I get to your house?’ I entered. There was about 15, 20 girls, [num] Saturday morning, getting ready – Venezuelan all. And I ask: cute girls, 14, 15 years getting ready on Saturday for? Earn life. You want this to your daughter, who is listening to us here now. And how did you get to this point? Wrong choices, “he said in the interview.
The conviction to the former president was initially published on the Metrópoles website and confirmed by the Sheet.
The Public Prosecution Service asked the court compensation for collective moral damages in the amount of R $ 30 million. The action was rejected in the first instance, and the agency appealed.
In the process, Bolsonaro’s defense said the children’s visit to the Planalto Palace “was a school tour duly authorized by those responsible without any electoral connotation.”
About Venezuelan teenagers, he stated that his words were taken from context and that there was no intention to stigmatize or discriminate against adolescents.
Most of the 5th Civil Class of the TJ-DFT decided to modify the first instance decision and condemn the former president.
The payment of R $ 150 thousand for collective moral damages, ruled the court, must be reversed to the Fund of Childhood and Adolescence of the Federal District, an equivalent national fund or to projects or actions to promote childhood rights indicated by the Public Prosecution Service.
Bolsonaro was also ordered to abstain from using images of children and adolescents in advertising material and “embarrassing children and adolescents in public events to reproduce violent gestures.”
In addition, it should be abstained from “employing sexual connotation to any situations involving children and adolescents, through words, gestures or actions that stigmatize them, expose them or submit them to association with sexual practices.”
Failure to comply with these measures should result, according to the court, in a fine of $ 10,000.
In a statement, Bolsonaro’s lawyer in the case, Marcelo Bessa, said that the decision was made by a tight majority and that “the grounds adopted by the Court fully disregard definitive decisions issued by the Superior Electoral Court and the Supreme Court on the matter, cite evidence nonexistent in the case file and, for such reasons, that decision will certainly not prevail in the Superior Court of Justice.”
