Eduardo Bolsonaro publishes again on X and says he is within the law

The federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) made two posts on X (formerly Twitter) this Tuesday (September 3, 2024), even after the decision by STF (Supreme Federal Court) minister Alexandre de Moraes to block the social network in Brazil. If the order is not complied with, the fine for anyone using a VPN to access the platform is R$50,000.

In his post, the former president’s son Jair Bolsonaro (PL) states that congressmen cannot be punished for something that is not in the country’s legislation. He cites article 22 of the Constitution, which establishes that “deputies and senators are inviolable, civilly and criminally, for any of their opinions, words and votes”.

“According to our Constitution, behavior that was legal until yesterday cannot be considered illegal today by a judge’s decision. I cannot be forced to do something or be punished, except by a previous law (art. 5). I mean, a CRIMINAL LAW, which WE PARLIAMENTARIANS have the PRIVATE COMPETENCE to make (art. 22)”he wrote.

In the same publication, the deputy brought to light the report published by the newspaper S. Paulo Newspaper in which he said that the judge used the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) to support investigations for which he was reporting at the Supreme Court. The conversations, exchanged via WhatsApp, included the judge and the advisor to STF minister Airton Vieira and criminal expert Eduardo Tagliaferro – who worked at the Electoral Court before being arrested for domestic violence.

For the congressman, Moraes’ convictions are not valid because he is biased in this action, and his decisions“should be annulled, because he is a suspicious judge”.

“He must be immediately removed from all these processes – if we still have any shred of democracy left in Brazil. Because he continues to use his power to persecute those involved in his own scandal, like now, when he sent his Federal Police detachment (Stasi) to obtain testimony and seized the cell phone of Eduardo Tagliaferro, who is his former advisor and the person he believes leaked the WhatsApp conversations.”he stated.

In a 2nd publication, Eduardo Bolsonaro speaks directly to the owner of X, Elon Musk. He said that the businessman “has done and is doing a lot, but we have to do our part”and calls on supporters to take part in demonstrations on September 7, Brazil’s Independence Day.

In the previous government, the date was linked to the Bolsonaro administration. One of the convictions that made Bolsonaro ineligible involved the use of September 7, 2022 for political purposes to promote his reelection campaign.

EXPERTS COMMENT

To the Poder360lawyer and columnist for the digital newspaper André Marsiglia classified the decision of the STF magistrate as a “disproportionate approach to the law” and “inventive”. For the expert in freedom of expression and digital law, a judge’s interpretation cannot be “contrary to what the law says”.

“A judge, by doing this, innovates. By doing this, he acts in an inventive way. It is not up to a judge to fantasize about the law, it is up to him to interpret it according to the law, to dress the law in interpretative nuances that do not distort or pervert it.”he declared.

The criminal lawyer and columnist for Poder360 Antônio Carlos de Almeida Castro, known as Kakay, declared that Moraes’ decision is “absolutely clear” and that the judge had no alternative but to suspend businessman Elon Musk’s social network.

“What says what is legal, what is constitutional, is the interpretation that the judge gives at that moment. You cannot make a different interpretation from that”he stated.

Kakay stated that Moraes’ order “goes much further”since it was a single-judge decision that had the unanimous approval of the 1st Panel of the STF. “The illegality is blatant. So, in a case like this, anyone who attacks Alexandre’s decision, which has already been unanimously ratified by the Panel, is either engaging in bad faith politics or has not read the decision.”.