The vice-president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), minister André Mendonça, determined the removal of a video published by the PL leader in the Chamberfederal deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ), who suggested the existence of suspicions of campaign financing of the Workers’ Party (PT) by criminal factions such as the Red Command (CV) and the First Capital Command (PCC).
The preliminary decision was signed on Friday (19) and establishes 24 hour deadline for the deleting the post on social mediaunder penalty of a daily fine. Content also cannot be republished or boosted in equivalent versions.
The publication, made on Sóstenes Cavalcante’s Instagram, stated that investigations by the United States government into the organizations had found evidence that the illicit money moved by them financed PT campaigns.
The context of the speech was the recent by the government of US President Donald Trump.
Post without any proof or verifiable source
A post does not present any proof or verifiable source to support the accusation.
In the video, the deputy begins by refuting what he called rumors spread by “presidents of NGOs” that Trump would “send bombs and missiles” to communities due to the new classification.
He then states that the United States will start tracking the factions’ money and that “there are great suspicions in the United States that this money still finances PT campaigns”.
In the end, Sóstenes Cavalcante associates the theme with the PL’s pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, senator Flávio Bolsonaro (RJ), presenting the fight against organized crime as one of the flags of this political field, and calls on viewers to publicize the content so that communities know the “truth of the facts”.
Understand Mendonça’s decision
In the decision, Mendonça states that the freedom of expression is widespread in political debatebut does not protect the disclosure of serious factual allegations without a minimum basis for verification, especially in an electoral context.
For the minister, this type of content could compromise the integrity of the dispute and mislead voters.
“The use of the expression ‘there are great suspicions’ does not rule out, in this preliminary examination, the plausibility of the illegality. On the contrary, the rhetorical formula used gives the appearance of caution to the statement, but preserves its disinformative load”, wrote Mendonça in the decision.
The judge also highlighted that criticism of parties, governments and public security proposals remains permitted, but cannot be confused with the attribution of potentially illicit facts without proof.
The representation was presented by the Federation Brasil da Esperança federation, made up of PT, Partido Verde (PV) and PCdoB. In the request, the group argued that the video constitutes disinformation with a potential impact on the electoral process.
On Sunday (21), the video was still available on Sóstenes Cavalcante’s Instagram.
Until the conclusion of this text, the federal deputy had not commented on the decision.
