The MP-SP (Public Ministry of São Paulo) reversed its previous statement and, after changing prosecutors, is now asking for the influencer’s conviction for moral damages caused by a 2022 speech in which he .
In March, prosecutor Marcelo Otavio Camargo Ramos argued that Monark’s statements fit into the abstract, “albeit mistaken” defense of freedom of conviction and expression.
In April, Ramos was replaced by prosecutor Ricardo Manuel Castro, who prepared a new statement asking the judge to disregard the Prosecutor’s Office’s previous request and sentence Monark to pay R$4 million.
In a note, the MP-SP stated that the position of the prosecutor responsible for the case is temporarily vacant, that Marcelo Ramos had been appointed to fill it during the second half of March and April, but that the appointment for this second month was suspended by decision of the Attorney General of Justice.
“As can be seen, there was an express defense of the creation of a Nazi party and the possibility of declaring and acting as anti-Jewish, as if this type of party and anti-Semitic stance were a result of the right to freedom of expression. It is not”, wrote the new prosecutor last Wednesday (15).
Monark’s defense said they viewed the MP-SP’s most recent demonstration with astonishment and highlighted that prosecutor Marcelo Ramos was replaced after asking for the case to be closed.
“At the time [da primeira manifestação]the Public Prosecutor’s Office correctly recognized that the accusations made against the presenter were based on ‘fragmented readings’ of his speeches, taken out of context”, he states in a note.
Monark’s lawyers also argue that the influencer was, in reality, expressing his anarchist ideology, which according to this reading, defends “absolute freedom of expression and association in the face of the State”.
On March 27th, one appointed Marcelo Ramos to act as 2nd Human Rights Prosecutor until April 30th.
On the 31st, a new ordinance designated Ricardo Manuel Castro to occupy the vacancy in the first half of April. On the 7th, another ordinance annulled the effects of the first decision for the second half of the same month.
In its position, the MP-SP states that its members, “under the terms of the Federal Constitution, enjoy functional independence to act in the procedures in which they officiate.”
The case dates back to 2022, when, in a conversation with federal deputies Tabata Amaral (PSB-SP) and Kim Kataguiri (União Brasil-SP) on the Flow podcast, Monark criticized the , but in Brazil.
“The radical left has much more space than the radical right, in my opinion. I think the Nazi had to have the Nazi party recognized by law. If the guy wants to be an anti-Jew, I think he had the right to be,” said Monark.
Monark’s speech precipitated the departure of Flow’s sponsors and resulted in his dismissal from the podcast. In 2023, he moved to the United States, claiming that Brazil had become a dictatorship and that he was politically persecuted – he returned to the country last year.
In March 2024, the MP-SP Human Rights Prosecutor’s Office filed a public civil action asking for Monark to be sentenced to pay R$4 million for apologizing for Nazism.
