TSE orders Bolsonaro to suspend video in which he calls Lula a thief

In the opinion of the Minister of the Court, electoral propaganda violates the PT candidate’s presumption of innocence

The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) determined on Wednesday (12.Oct.2022) the immediate suspension of the broadcasting of electoral propaganda pieces of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). In the contested videos, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is called “corrupt” and “thief”. For the Court, statements contravene the right to the presumption of innocence. Here’s the intact of the decision (43 KB).

The request for the suspension of electoral propaganda was made by the Brasil da Esperança Coalition, of the Lula-Alckmin ticket. The lawyers pointed out that the pieces “go beyond the right to freedom of expression and affect honor” Lula, associating the vote for PT to the choice of a corrupt.

Minister Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino agreed. In the preliminary decision – that is, urgent and provisional – he cited article 5 of the Federal Constitution, which says that “no one will be found guilty, until the final judgment of a condemning criminal sentence”.

Sanseverino stated that “the contested electoral propaganda is illegal, as it attributes the candidate to the conduct of ‘corrupt’ and ‘thief’, not observing the governing electoral legislation and the rule of treatment based on the constitutional guarantee of the presumption of innocence or non-guilty”.

It also pointed out possible “crime of slander, injury or defamation” by the Bolsonaro campaign.

Finally, the minister ordered the immediate suspension of electoral propaganda on television, under penalty of a fine in the amount of R$ 50,000.00 for dissemination.

VIDEO

The TSE minister highlighted in the decision parts of the video that justify the veto of Bolsonaro’s propaganda. In one of them, Lula appears saying that he was exonerated and the narrator replies: “No! It was not. The worst and biggest lie of this election is to say that Lula was exonerated”. In another, an interviewee says: “I think Lula is a real thief. I wouldn’t vote for Lula, not even a dick, God forbid I vote for Lula”.

Watch the electoral propaganda (2min52):