Lula is seeking R$1 million in damages from Editora Três, publisher of IstoÉ magazine.
The defense team for the former president has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for moral damages against Editora Três, Sérgio Pardellas, Germano Oliveira, and Davincci Lourenço de Almeida due to the news report "I took a suitcase of money to Lula"; according to the lawyers, it is a "false and sensationalist text," as well as an "infamous and frivolous accusation about a 'suitcase of money' received by Lula in exchange for alleged help for the construction company Camargo Corrêa."
247 - Former President Lula's defense team has filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for moral damages against Editora Três, Sérgio Pardellas, Germano Oliveira, and Davincci Lourenço de Almeida due to the news report "I took a suitcase of money to Lula."
The lawyers are requesting that the defendants be jointly and severally ordered to pay damages in the amount of R$ 1 million. They claim that the text is "false and sensationalist," and that there is an "infamous and frivolous accusation about a 'suitcase of money' received by Lula in exchange for alleged help to the construction company Camargo Corrêa."
Read the note:
Nota
As lawyers for former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, we filed a lawsuit today (February 23, 2017) seeking compensation for moral damages against Editora Três Ltda. (currently in judicial reorganization), Sérgio Pardellas, Germano Oliveira, and Davincci Lourenço de Almeida, stemming from the sensationalist and false report "I took a suitcase of money to Lula," published in IstoÉ magazine (edition no. 2462 of February 22, 2017). The lawsuit requests that the defendants be jointly and severally ordered to pay compensation in the amount of R$ 1 million.
The defendants conspired to produce this infamous and frivolous accusation about a "suitcase of money" received by Lula in exchange for alleged help for the construction company Camargo Correia to "close" a contract with Petrobras. This never happened. What is most serious is that the report relied on the fanciful version of Davincci Lourenço de Almeida, a person whose life history includes other attacks against the honor of others.
It should be noted that, during the period of the accusation made by the defendants, Lula did not hold any public office and was undergoing intensive medical treatment, seeking a cure for cancer.
IstoÉ shirks the responsibility of a serious press concerned with verifying the truth. More than that, it infringes upon Lula's rights to privacy guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.
Cristiano Zanin Martins & Roberto Teixeira