BRASILIA | Several Brazilian journalists’ unions denounced on Saturday the decision of a judge to ban, under the secrecy of the investigation, to TV Globo the dissemination of documents concerning the investigation for corruption targeting Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son eldest of the far-right president.
On Friday evening, trial judge Cristina Feijo, of Rio de Janeiro, banned TV Globo, the country’s largest channel, from publishing any documents related to the investigation against President Jair Bolsonaro’s son, who had brought the case to justice.
“It seems that censorship against the press is back in this country, as during the period of the military dictatorship” between 1964 and 1985, reacted Paulo Jerónimo, president of the Brazilian Press Association (ABP).
“This decision complicates journalistic coverage of the serious accusations against the senator and prevents society from evaluating the work of the authorities in the investigation of the facts,” warned the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji).
Flavio Bolsonaro, 39, is under investigation for a corruption case when he was an elected official in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
“I have just won a decision preventing #globolixo (globo-junk) from publishing any document in my case under the secrecy of the investigation. I have nothing to hide and I have explained everything, but the stories that part of the press invents to tarnish my image and that of President Jair Bolsonaro are criminal acts, ”Flavio Bolsonaro reacted on Friday.
The magazine Crusoe claimed last month that Fabricio Queiroz, a retired police officer, friend of Jair Bolsonaro and former advisor to Flavio Bolsonaro, deposited 21 checks totaling 72,000 reais (about $ 22,000) into the account of Michelle Bolsonaro, the president’s wife, between 2011 and 2016.
Other documents indicate that Queiroz’s wife deposited an additional 17,000 reais in Michelle Bolsonaro’s account, bringing the total value to 89,000 reais.
The questions of the press on these revelations triggered violent reactions from President Bolsonaro. “I want to shut your mouth with fists,” replied the far-right president at the end of August to a question asked by a journalist from O Globo on this affair.