Luan Araujo was ordered to pay monetary benefits for defamation against the former federal deputy
The Justice of São Paulo ordered the arrestin an open regime, by journalist Luan Araujo, for non-payment of monetary benefits, a penalty restricting rights that consists of the condemned person’s obligation to pay a certain amount of money to replace prison in specific cases.
The pecuniary benefit is a penalty restricting rights that serves as a alternative to prison for minor crimeswithout violence or serious threat and with sentences of up to four years. THE value, fixed by the judge between one and 360 minimum wagesis calculated based on the economic situation of the convicted person and the extent of the damage caused.
The payment is intended for the victim, their dependents or public and private entities with social purposes, such as hospitals and nursing homes. According to the Penal Code, monetary benefits are a replacement for incarceration; however, if the convicted person is duly summoned and fails to pay as determined, the benefit of the alternative penalty is revoked. In these cases, the punishment is necessarily converted into a custodial sentenceresulting in an arrest order, as in the case of the journalist.
Prison ordered
Luan Araujo, who became known after being chased by former federal deputy Carla Zambelli with a gun in 2022had by judge Jose Fernando Steinberg, from the Special Criminal Court of the Central Court of Barra Funda, on Monday (1st), for failure to pay the cash benefit determined in a process by defamation.
In the process, the judge refers to a publication in which the journalist states that Zambelli “is part of a petty, malicious extreme right that is a merchant of death”.
As it is a crime with less offensive potential, without violence or serious threat, the judge replaced the prison sentence with a sentence that restricts rights, converting it into the obligation to pay a sum of money, the pecuniary benefit.
Brazilian legislation provides that alternative sentences are a benefit granted to the defendant to avoid incarceration, associated with strict compliance with established conditions.
According to the court decision, Luan Araujo fhi duly summoned by the Court to pay the stipulated amount, but did not do so. Given the lack of settlement of the criminal debt, the judge applied article 44, §4, of the Penal Code, which determines the mandatory conversion of the sentence restricting rights back into a sentence depriving one of liberty.
“Given that the convicted person, despite being duly summoned, did not comply with the monetary benefit imposed, under the terms of article 44, §4, of the Penal Code, I convert the sentence restricting rights into a sentence depriving him of liberty, along the lines of the extended sentence”, recorded the magistrate in the decision.
With the revocation of the benefit, the original punishment was reinstated, resulting in the issuance of the arrest warrant and the case being forwarded to the Criminal Executions Court (VEC).
Defense of the journalist
In a note sent to Young Pan, Luan Araujo’s defense expressed concern about the decision, highlighting that the journalist was not convicted of violent crimes or corruption, but rather for a opinion text published in the exercise of their profession.
The defense stated that requested recognition of economic hyposufficiency – financial inability to bear procedural costs – of Luan or, at least, the payment of the obligation in installments, but the conversion into prison was maintained.
“The question that needs to be asked to society is simple: can a journalist lose his freedom because he does not have money to pay a pecuniary obligation? Can poverty be turned into a reason for imprisonment? The defense understands that it is not”, states the statement.
