Luciano Huck loses battle to ban public access to 'private' beach.

In June 2009, former Rio de Janeiro governor Sérgio Cabral relaxed the rules for construction in environmental preservation areas in Angra dos Reis. The decree became known as the "Luciano Huck Law".

February 20, 2017, 09:43 PMUpdated June 28, 2018, 11:10 pm

Luciano Huck, host of the show "Caldeirão do Huck" on Rede Globo. (Photo: Leonardo Attuch)

By Helena Sthephanowitz, for the Current Brazil Network

In 2011, Judge Maria de Lourdes Coutinho Tavares of the 1st Federal Court of Angra dos Reis ordered TV presenter Luciano Huck to pay R$ 40 for enclosing the coastal strip along his mansion on Ilha das Palmeiras, in Angra dos Reis, on the southern coast of Rio de Janeiro, with buoys and nets, without environmental authorization. The TV personality claimed only that he had done so "for the purpose of future mariculture activity."

In the ruling, the judge argued that "the motivation for placing the barrier is something other than the activity of raising shellfish; in other words, mariculture would be a pretext to legitimize the claim, not accepted by law, of appropriating a good for common use by the people." That is, the so-called "goody-two-shoes" attitude typical of the middle class didn't want anyone to have access to "their" private beach.

The judge also ruled that Huck must remove the buoys and pay compensation for material and immaterial damages, in addition to a daily fine if he failed to comply with the decision. Dissatisfied with the sentence, Luciano Huck appealed and, in the second instance, was again convicted.

The presenter then appealed to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), stating that he considered the fine to be too high. He fought in court for seven years to try to avoid the environmental fine.

Without success. On Thursday (16), the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) demanded that the TV Globo presenter pay a fine of R$ 40.

In a statement to the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), the Regional Prosecutor's Office of the 2nd Region argues for the rejection of Huck's appeal, arguing that it is merely a "measure of nonconformity, characterizing only the defendant's dissatisfaction with the sentence."

This was not the first time Huck has been sued for claiming public and environmental property as his own. In 2006, he was denounced by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office because his mansion on Ilha das Palmeiras was built on a body of water surrounded by rocks and for having erected a wall about ten meters high. He also ordered the construction of dikes to create an artificial beach. However, he managed to escape justice, claiming that the original construction, from 1971, was completed before the current legislation came into effect, and that he had only renovated the house that was already there.

In June 2009, former Rio de Janeiro governor Sérgio Cabral (PMDB/RJ) relaxed the rules for construction in environmental preservation areas in Angra dos Reis and other regions of the state. The decree, number 41.921, became known as the "Luciano Huck Law" because it was allegedly designed to benefit the Globo TV presenter.