"Abraji repudiates the conviction of Agência Pública in the claim for damages filed by former president of the Chamber of Deputies Arthur Lira and warns of the risks that the sentence handed down by the 8th Civil Court of Brasília poses to the practice of journalism. In a decision dated Sept. 23, Judge Leandro Borges de Figueiredo ordered Pública and the congressman's ex-wife, Jullyene Lins Rocha, to pay R$ 30,000 (about US $5,600) each for a report in which Jullyene accuses her ex-husband of sexual violence.
The amount must be increased by default interest from the date of publication of the journalistic content. The report 'Arthur Lira's ex-wife accuses him of sexual violence' was published in June 2023 and, since then, the congressman has been seeking in court the removal of the content and the financial punishment of Agência Pública. The case has been followed with concern by Abraji and other organizations defending journalism.
In the October decision, the judge stated that, 'given the particularities of the case, it is noted that the exercise of the rights to freedom of both the defendant Jullyene and the journalistic company Pública occurred in a disproportionate and improper manner, and the protection of the right to honor and image of the plaintiff [Arthur Lira] should prevail.'"
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