On Monday (11), the court of Justice sentenced the president of , , to pay compensation for moral damages in the amount of R$ 20 thousand to the president for the coup acts of January 8, 2023. Sheet the defense said it will appeal the decision.
In the sentence, judge Wagner Pessoa Vieira, of the 5th Civil Court of , stated that the president of the former president’s party exceeded the political debate with his statements and damaged the image of the PT, which, according to the judge, constitutes an abuse of the right to freedom of expression.
The report also attempted to contact Valdemar’s press office by message, at 3:15 pm, and by call, at 3:45 pm, to ask for a position regarding the conviction. There was no response until the publication of this report. The space remains open.
Valdemar Costa Neto’s speeches took place at an event in September 2025, in Itu (SP). At the time, he stated that “those who started the riot were people from the PT”, in reference to the attacks on the headquarters of the National Congress, the Palácio do Planalto and the (Supreme Federal Court).
“Our big problem is that there was that mess on January 8th and the Supreme Court says that it was a coup, look how absurd it is. The guy with a stick, a bunch of people in flip-flops breaking down at the front. They classify it, they say that it’s a coup. So ‘Debora with the lipstick’ was going to be Minister of Finance? There was no one. The PT was the one who prepared that,” he said.
“The people who started the riot were people from the PT. There is footage of them leaving there calmly. Half a dozen ‘slippers’ get involved and start breaking everything. The coup is with machine guns and tanks. There has never been a coup”, he stated, at another point.
The information that the PT would go to court was given to Sheet by the president of the party, Edinho Silva, days after the event in the interior of São Paulo.
“He [Valdemar] is telling a lie, he knows it is a lie. We had an investigation process into the attempted coup that was further investigated by the Federal Police, the Public Ministry, and evaluated by the Federal Supreme Court. In other words, we know what is true and what is a lie. He is stating something that is a lie and will have to prove what he stated”, said the PT member.
According to the judge, the party leader’s defense argument that the statements were just an opinion is not sustainable because they would have gone beyond the political-ideological criticism and attributed a crime to the PT without having evidence linking the party to the organization or execution of the coup acts.
“This is not a mere issue of an opinion or generic political criticism. The statement conveyed has a determined factual content, consisting of the direct attribution of the author’s participation in criminal events of great national repercussion”, declared Vieira.
In the sentence, the judge also mentioned that Valdemar’s speech was publicized on social media and in the press.
“Freedom of expression, although essential to the democratic regime, is not absolute and must be exercised in harmony with other fundamental rights, especially the right to honor and image. The dissemination of untrue facts, with the potential to tarnish the reputation of third parties, is not protected by constitutional protection”, he stated.
