Radio Free never takes money from corporate interests, which ensures our publications are in the interest of people, not profits. Radio Free provides free and open-source tools and resources for anyone to use to help better inform their communities. Learn more and get involved at radiofree.org

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined eight other press freedom organizations in an April 19 statement urging the Brazilian Supreme Court to dismiss the case against journalist André Barrocal filed by former attorney general Augusto Aras.

Aras filed a defamation case against Barrocal in response to the reporter’s July 2020 article about Aras’s performance, which was published in Carta Capital Magazine. The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) rejected the case, and Aras has now appealed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

The signatory press freedom organizations trust that the Federal Supreme Court will reject this unfounded attempt to silence public criticism and criminalize journalism in Brazil.

Read the joint statement here.


This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Citations

[1] Augusto Aras: O cão de guarda de Bolsonaro e perdigueiro dos inimigos – Política – CartaCapital ➤ https://www.cartacapital.com.br/politica/augusto-aras-o-cao-de-guarda-de-bolsonaro-e-perdigueiro-dos-inimigos/[2] Abraji | Organizações alertam para nova tentativa de censura de Augusto Aras ➤ https://www.abraji.org.br/organizacoes-alertam-para-nova-tentativa-de-censura-de-augusto-aras