The Federal Court in São Paulo sentenced on Monday (27) the president of the PSTU (Unified Socialist Workers’ Party), José Maria de Almeida, known as Zé Maria, to two years in prison for the crime of , for a speech made at a pro- rally on Avenida Paulista in October 2023.
The penalty, in an open regime, was converted into measures restricting rights: payment of ten minimum wages to a social entity and provision of services to the community. The party stated that it will appeal to the TRF-3 (Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region).
The sentence was signed by federal judge Massimo Palazzolo, from the 4th Federal Criminal Court of São Paulo, and is based on Zé Maria’s speech in a demonstration held on October 22, 2023, broadcast on the PSTU’s official Instagram profile.
In the speech, he stated that “every act of force, every act of violence by the Palestinian people, against Zionism is legitimate” and defended “putting, once and for all, an end to the Zionist state of , so that the Palestinian state, secular, democratic, from the Jordan River to the sea can flourish”.
Conib (Israeli Confederation of Brazil) and Fisesp (Israeli Federation of the State of São Paulo) contacted the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) and were qualified as assistant prosecutors in the process. The complaint framed the PSTU president in article 20, paragraph 2, of law 7,716/89, which deals with the crime of racism committed through social media.
For the judge, the statements went beyond legitimate political debate. “Criticism of the State of Israel, in itself, does not constitute an anti-Semitic or anti-Zionist practice, however, the messages transmitted by the accused demonstrate a degrading, generalist and prejudiced nature in relation to both the Jewish community and the Zionist movement”, wrote Palazzolo.
The judge also stated that freedom of expression “does not protect demonstrations that constitute incitement to hatred and discrimination” and that the speech “was characterized as hatred, contempt and intolerance”, motivated by prejudice against Jews.
When setting the sentence, the judge considered that the conduct caused “serious damage to the population of the Jewish community” in the country, in a context of political polarization.
José Maria de Almeida, 68, is the founder of the PSTU and was a candidate for President of the Republic in 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014.
In a text published by Opinião Socialista, the official PSTU newspaper, Zé Maria stated that the decision “has no support, whether historical, political or legal” and classified the equation between Zionism and Judaism as false.
“Zionism has nothing to do with religion or an ethnic group, it is an extreme right-wing ideology that does not represent the Jewish people,” said the PSTU president.
He also stated that the Jewish entities’ argument “comes from a desperation of trying to defend the indefensible, as the entire world is seeing the genocide of the Palestinian people carried out by this racist, colonialist and genocidal state of Israel.”
In a note released by the same vehicle, the PSTU stated that it will appeal in TRF-3 and maintain its position in defense of the Palestinian people and the end of the State of Israel, in favor of “a secular, democratic and non-racist Palestine”.
