Court condemns Globo and Ana Maria Braga for criticizing judge.

Fernando Porfírio _247 – The São Paulo Court of Justice stated that there is a limit to how much the press can criticize judges' decisions and ordered Rede Globo de Televisão and presenter Ana Maria Braga to pay compensation for crossing a "red line." The court understood that the public interest was present in the news, but the way it was presented exceeded the constitutional right to freedom of expression and the duty to inform.

The decision comes from the 2nd Chamber of Private Law of the Court of Justice, which, by unanimous vote, jointly condemned the TV station and the presenter. Both will have to pay R$ 150 in damages for moral harm to Judge Luciana Viveiros Corrêa dos Santos Seabra, of the 2nd Criminal Court of Praia Grande, a city on the coast of São Paulo state.

The alleged harm to the judge occurred on the program "Mais Você," broadcast on November 20, 2007. In it, Ana Maria Braga criticized the magistrate for having released, months earlier, Jilmar Leandro da Silva, who had been imprisoned for assaulting and holding his girlfriend, Evellyn Ferreira Amorim, hostage. Some time after his release, the young man kidnapped his ex-girlfriend again, killed her, and then committed suicide. The case received significant media coverage.

The decision was made by the 2nd Chamber of the Court of Justice of São Paulo, which denied an appeal filed by TV Globo and Ana Maria Braga. The rapporteur, Judge Neves Amorim, understood that there was no evidence that the judge ruled outside the law or that she based the sentence on evidence that was not in the case under discussion.

"It turns out that, without mentioning these facts, the co-defendant Ana Maria, on her television program Mais Você, referred to the decision in question as if the motivation for the defendant's release was due to good behavior," stated the rapporteur. "Therefore, either the co-defendant was poorly informed about the case or she preferred to express a biased opinion to take advantage of the sensationalism and audience that the news could generate," he added.

According to the lawsuit, the Globo presenter said it was a tragedy waiting to happen and, regarding the judge, stated: "He had kidnapped the young woman less than six months ago. Then the judge said: no, but, you know?, he has good behavior." The lawsuit also states that Ana Maria Braga said it was necessary to pay attention to the judge: "I want to say the name of this judge so we can pay attention. She, she, the judge is Luciana Viveiro Seabra."

The judge filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for moral damages due to the criticism. In condemning the broadcaster and the presenter, Judge Malfatti, of the 7th Civil Court of the Santo Amaro Regional Forum in São Paulo, stated that "judicial acts can be subject to criticism from society, as part of the Democratic Rule of Law," but understood that Ana Maria's statements went beyond the right to criticize and entered the personal sphere.

"Now, what was the purpose of mentioning the judge's name on national television in a context of outrage against her decision and to a lay audience?", the judge questioned. For Malfatti, "by stating the judge's name, more than informing the author of a judicial decision, the presenter gave her a pejorative connotation. She left the message: we need to pay attention to the judge's name!".

The judge understood that the judge's name was exposed inappropriately. By doing so, the presenter "voluntarily or not, transformed her dissatisfaction into a gratuitous feeling of personal anger." Malfatti also emphasized that, contrary to what Ana Maria said, the judge did not order the prisoner's release due to good behavior.

"The statement on the television program was illegal, not because of disagreement with the content of the court decision, but because the presenter's speech was based on non-existent content from the provisional release decision," ruled the first-instance judge when justifying the amount of compensation.