TRE-SP judge considers that video in which the former coach threatens to hit the mayor “exceeds the limits of freedom of expression”
The TRE-SP (Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo) granted the candidate Ricardo Nunes (MDB) right of reply on the social networks of his opponent for the City Hall of São Paulo, Pablo Marcal (PRTB). The sentence was published on Friday (Aug 30, 2024). Here is the full (PDF – 48kB).
The request for the right of reply was made by the legal team of the current mayor of São Paulo after Marçal published, on August 24, a video in which he called candidates “scoundrels”, in addition to threatening to beat Nunes.I’m going to beat you up alone with my cell phone in my hand, Nunes. You’re going to be the guy I’m going to beat up the most now.”said the former coach.
Judge Murillo D’Avila Vianna Cotrim, of the 2nd Electoral Zone of São Paulo, considered that the content went beyond “the limit of freedom of expression and political debate, constituting an offense to the honor of the authoring candidate”.
“It is true that the applicant, by assuming the position of mayor and appearing as a candidate in the municipal majority election, must endure attacks or strong criticism, demands and sharp questions. But this does not allow personal attacks that affect his honor, without any relevance to the political debate and proposals to the voter”, declared.
“In this context, it is concluded that the contested post unequivocally exceeded the scope of freedom of expression, as well as the electoral political game, in such a way as to overflow the limit of the right to criticism, attributing offensive predicates, especially the terms “CHARACTERLESS”, “SCUM”, “OPPORTUNIST” and “DISGRACIOUS”, to reveal the clear purpose of denigrating the reputation of the opposing candidate, thus destabilizing, in the middle of the electoral period and the equality expected for the upcoming election.”.”, said the magistrate.
In view of this, it determined that the content be deleted within 24 hours and gave Nunes the right to publish a video of up to 1 minute, the content of which must be restricted to the content of the accusation, on Instagram, Tiktok and on X (former Twitter) of Marçal within 48 hours. Furthermore, the response must remain for twice the time of the publication considered offensive.
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