The Federal Court of Rio Grande do Norte sentenced federal deputy General Girão (PL-RN) for collective moral damages for having encouraged anti-democratic acts after the 2022 elections. The sentence determines that Girão pay R$2 million and also delete publications in your social networks related to the acts within ten days. There is still an appeal.
According to the sentence of federal judge Janilson de Siqueira, the parliamentarian’s attitude “affronts the Rule of Law, the legal order and the democratic regime, threatening the legitimacy of the electoral process and the performance of the Judiciary”.
The judge also said that the parliamentarian’s posts constitute “hate speech against democratic institutions with the dissemination of false news (fake news) about the results of the elections, confusing and inciting the people and the Armed Forces to subversion against the democratic order”.
The Federal Public Ministry (MPF), author of the action, argued that Girão actively used his social networks, in a clear abuse of freedom of expression and parliamentary immunity, to encourage conduct that undermined the democratic order, including the continuity of the existing camp at time in front of the 16th Motorized Infantry Battalion in Natal.
“In a post made a month before the invasion of the buildings of the STF, the National Congress and the Palácio do Planalto, the defendant was already instigating violence against the institutions, especially Congress”, highlighted the MPF.
Also according to the organization, Girão, as a federal deputy and Army reserve general, acted as an articulator and motivator of the criminal acts. “The defendant’s desire to see a coup d’état carried out, as we know, almost took just over a month of such posting, with there being a causal link between conduct and damage.”
In addition to the deputy, the Union, the state of Rio Grande do Norte and the municipality of Natal were also condemned for failing to protect democracy in the amount of R$3 million. Federated entities must also hold a public event and educational actions to curb acts against the Democratic Rule of Law.
In relation to the Union, the sentence says that the compensation to be paid is R$2 million, and it must also promote, within 60 days, a public apology ceremony, with the participation of the commanders of the Navy, Army and Air Force. The event will have to be widely publicized.
The reason for the apology was the publication of a note, in November 2022, which, according to the MPF, encouraged camps in front of the barracks.
“The note issued by the then commanders of the Armed Forces in fact normalized the camps and anti-democratic demonstrations that took place in the face of non-acceptance of the election results, encouraging the mistaken idea of the legitimacy of speeches of false insurrection and ‘retaking of Power’, which gave rise to a favorable environment for the attempt on January 8, 2023”, says the decision.
The decision also highlights that “in fact, public military agents in positions of high command adopted a procedure that is not in harmony with the legality or political neutrality of the Armed Forces”.
According to the sentence, the Union is also obliged to promote training courses for military personnel across the country, with the aim of revisiting the undemocratic acts of 2022 and emphasizing the necessary respect by members of the Armed Forces for the principles inherent to the Democratic State of Right.
