The minister , of , reformed part of a decision of the Amazonas Electoral Court and maintained the exclusion of videos considered negative early election propaganda.
The judge, however, overturned the prior prohibition on the use of a catchphrase as he understood that the measure constituted prior censorship.
The decision deals with a process in which videos of the Manaus councilor were removed Alexandre Salazar (PL), which criticized the former mayor of the capital of Amazonas David Almeida (Avante), pre-candidate for state government.
The court had also prohibited the use of the expression “He will never be governor”.
In the order signed this Sunday (7), Dino maintained the removal of the videos, but overturned the ban on the use of the catchphrase. For the minister, preventing the use of expression constitutes prior censorship and goes against the STF’s consolidated understanding of freedom of expression.
When analyzing the case, the minister also criticized what he called “colonization of political discourse by bizarreness and rudeness”. According to him, public debate allows criticism, but does not protect demonstrations that exceed the limits of legality and decorum.
“The colonization of political discourse by bizarreness and rudeness is not just a matter of civic or family education; it is also an acute constitutional issue related to the conditions for the reasonable functioning of the democratic regime,” he wrote.
For Dino, the videos went beyond the limits of political criticism by making direct reference to the dispute for the government of Amazonas and by using insults and offensive expressions against David Almeida. In the decision, the rapporteur cites terms used by the councilor, such as “fuck”, “fuck off”, “I think” e “asshole”.
The case began after Avante’s state directory sued the Electoral Court against videos published by Salazar on March 27th and 29th.
In the recordings, the councilor, who has more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram, criticized the actions of Manaus City Hall and repeatedly used the phrase “He will never be governor” when referring to Almeida.
When granting an injunction in April, TRE-AM understood that the content constituted negative early electoral propaganda with an explicit request not to vote.
In addition to ordering the removal of publications, the court set a daily fine of R$20,000 in case of non-compliance with the decision or new content with the same content, including the use of the catchphrase “Never will be”.
When judging the complaint presented to the STF, Dino concluded that the prohibition of expression exceeded constitutional limits. According to the minister, the legality of using the catchphrase depends on the context in which it is used, and it is not possible to impose prior censorship.
“Depending on the text and context, the catchphrase ‘NEVER WILL’ can be used, as long as the legal and ethical rules that should govern political clashes are observed”he stated.
