A group of civil society organizations filed a public civil action against the Brazilian State based on what was carried out by members of the (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) during the (PL) government, in an action that became known as “parallel Abin”.
Presented this Wednesday (7) at the 6th Civil Court of the Federal Court in São Paulo, the action is authored by Fenaj (National Federation of Journalists), the Union of Professional Journalists in the State of São Paulo, Abraji (Brazilian Investigative Association) and the NGOs Reporters Without Borders and Article 19.
Cases of journalists are listed in the process as targets of the parallel structure installed at Abin under Bolsonaro. In the petition, the authors argue that the ruling in the trial of the main nucleus of the coup plot carried out by the (Supreme Federal Court) expressly recognized that Abin clandestinely monitored journalists.
One of the focuses of the investigation into “parallel Abin” involved the use of , spy software that allows access to geolocation for monitoring. There are also cases in which members of the organization researched or disseminated information on social networks against the targets of this clandestine structure.
Among those are Mônica Bergamo, columnist for SheetVera Magalhães, columnist for the newspaper O Globo, Luiza Alves Bandeira, from DFRLab (Digital Forensic Research Lab), linked to the Atlantic Council, and Pedro Cesar Batista, linked to the General Abreu e Lima Anti-Imperialist Committee. Reporters Without Borders, one of the authors of the action, was also monitored, as were public authorities.
In the action, the entities highlight the importance of press freedom as one of the pillars of democracy and defend the importance of source secrecy as an instrument for exercising the profession.
“Guaranteeing the confidentiality of the source is an essential condition for the full professional exercise of communicators and journalists, so the mere possibility of violating communications or their geolocation data represents a serious threat to press freedom”, says the petition.
The entities are asking for compensation for collective moral damages to the category of journalists in the amount of R$500,000. The amount would be allocated to the Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights.
“The objective is to hold the Union historically responsible for the serious violations committed by agents who, during the Bolsonaro government, unduly monitored the location of press professionals through the FirstMile tool”, says Fenaj about the action.
Among the requests are also the defense that any form of illegal monitoring of journalists by Abin or any state body be expressly prohibited, “with the use of intrusive tools, such as FirstMile”. And that it be determined that monitoring and obtaining information from journalists, such as through telephone interception and access to geolocation data, can only occur through a specific and duly substantiated judicial decision.
The entities also request that civil society representatives be included in Abin’s external control mechanism, arguing that today this activity is carried out only by the Legislature.
Finally, they ask for an institutional reform at Abin, which includes the creation of training courses for the agency’s agents, addressing topics such as freedom of the press and the importance of journalism for democracy.
“This action represents an unprecedented and important step: it is the first time that we have sought institutional recognition of violations of this type in Brazilian justice. By presenting this case, we seek to establish a legal precedent in defense of the collective right to freedom of the press”, says Artur Romeu, director of Repórteres Sem Fronteiras América Latina.
