The head of state now has to pay her 35,000 reais (approximately 6,500 euros), instead of the 20,000 (almost 3,700 euros) provided for in the first instance decision in March 2021.
A Brazilian court of appeals on Wednesday increased the amount of compensation for moral damage that far-right president Zaich Bolsonaro was sentenced to pay to a well-known journalist for his sexist and insulting statements against her.
The appellants in Sao Paulo upheld the conviction and also approved, by four votes to one, the “increase in compensation” to be paid to Patricia Campos Melou.
The head of state now has to pay her 35,000 reais (approximately 6,500 euros), instead of the 20,000 (almost 3,700 euros) provided for in the first instance decision in March 2021.
“We won”, as the appellate court ruled that it is not acceptable for the President of the Republic to insult a journalist by leaving sexual implications. This is a victory for all women “, the reporter of the newspaper Folha de São Paulo judged via Twitter.
The case dates back to February 2020, when the head of state launched repeated attacks on the journalist, implying that he tried to obtain evidence against him by offering sexual favors in exchange for a source.
Patricia Campos Melou was the author of several articles in the context of her newspaper’s investigation into an organization that spread false news through the Whatsapp platform in order to hit the Workers’ Party (PT, center-left) during the 2018 presidential campaign. Zaich Bolsonaru finally won.
In January 2021, the reporter secured a first judicial victory in her battle with the president’s family: his son, MP Eduardo Bolsonaro, was fined 30,000 reais (4,600 euros), also for non-pecuniary damage.
Eduardo Bolsonaro had claimed in May 2020, in a video uploaded to the YouTube platform, that the journalist tried to seduce an employee of a digital marketing company to obtain information. He had also claimed that the reporter, who has been honored with several awards, is promoted because he publishes false news against his father. He repeated the same allegations via Twitter.
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