Judge Eustáquio de Castro, from the TJDFT (Court of Justice of the Federal District and Territories), suspended the first instance decision ordering the removal of the senator’s (PL) post, stating that PT would mean “party of drug traffickers”.
The magistrate gave the decision on a preliminary (provisional) basis, after an appeal by the senator against the urgent decision that had determined the removal of the post. The case must still be analyzed by the collegiate.
According to Eustáquio de Castro, in an initial analysis, there would be “no reasons to determine the restriction of freedom of expression, and a prudent stance must be adopted”.
“In summary analysis, I do not envisage the presence of a risk of serious damage, difficult or impossible to repair, capable of granting urgent protection to remove the publications, given that we are not yet in the electoral period”, he stated.
He also cites the decision of judge Fabrício Fontoura Bezerra, also from TJDFT, who, when deciding a similar case, highlighted the context of political dispute between the parties and stated that a “‘vulgarization’ of unavailability measures should be avoided, transforming the Judiciary into an instrument of censorship of political opinions”.
The PT had requested the removal of the post, arguing that the post had exceeded “the limits of the conflicting constitutional values, causing offense to the image of the author, which must be prevented to stop the offense.” It also stated that the publication would not be related to the senator’s parliamentary activity. “On the contrary, it arises from his personal opinion, without supervisory nature or informative intention and, therefore, devoid of protection by parliamentary immunity.”
Flávio appealed, arguing that freedom of expression should be the rule and that, as a senator, he has parliamentary immunity. He also said there would be no proof of actual loss resulting from the post.
The post by Flávio, who is a pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic against Lula, was made in the context of the police operation that culminated in 122 deaths in , of which five were police officers. Among the civilian deaths, in the criminal action that generated the operation. Only four of the 51 targets of arrest warrants were arrested.
and said it was a “slaughter”, arguing that the fight against crime should be done with intelligence and not based on the increase in deaths.
The Bolsonarists praised the action and adopted a speech that PTism would have criticized the action in Rio because it would be favorable to crime. The political group, as when it said that CPX was an acronym used by drug traffickers during the 2022 electoral campaign, in reference to communities on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
