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'Censorship, besides being intolerable, constitutes a perversion of the ethics of Law,' says Celso de Mello.

"The practice of censorship, including judicial censorship, besides being intolerable, constitutes a true perversion of the ethics of Law and translates, in the concreteness of its scope, into an unquestionable subversion of the very democratic idea that animates and illuminates the institutions of the Republic," stated the senior Justice of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Celso de Mello, criticizing the decision of Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

'Censorship, besides being intolerable, constitutes a perversion of the ethics of Law,' says Celso de Mello.

247 - Justice Celso de Mello, the most senior member of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), endorsed the criticism against what he classifies as censorship the decision by fellow Justice Alexandre de Moraes to order Crusoé magazine and the O Antagonista website to remove a report that mentioned the president of the STF, Dias Toffoli.

"Censorship, any type of censorship, even that ordered by the Judiciary, is an illegitimate, autocratic practice and essentially incompatible with the regime of fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic," the minister said in a press release.

According to the dean, the State cannot prohibit the free circulation of ideas or the free exercise of the constitutional freedom of expression.

"The practice of censorship, including judicial censorship, besides being intolerable, constitutes a true perversion of the ethics of Law and translates, in the concreteness of its scope, into an unquestionable subversion of the very democratic idea that animates and illuminates the institutions of the Republic," the minister stated.

In addition to Celso de Mello, Justice Marco Aurelio Mello had also criticized the measure, calling Alexandre de Moraes' decision a "gag order."

"Gag order, gag order. This is incompatible with the democratic spirit of the 1988 Constitution. We don't miss the previous regime. And I don't recall even in the previous regime, which was a regime of exception, measures as virulent as this one," he said.