"The judiciary of the state of Bahia criminally condemned journalists Ailton São Paulo and Alana Rocha, who were exercising their profession. The action was filed by Daniela Cordeiro Nascimento, Guilherme Souza Tomasi and Ivina Adina Cordeiro Nascimento, who argued that they were victims of defamation for speeches made by presenters during the Gazeta Alerta program on Rádio Gazeta FM.
The arguments were accepted by a judge in the first instance, Marcela Moura França Pamponet, who, in February 2023, sentenced the reporters to eight months of regime aberto (open regime) and a fine, converted into the provision of services to the community, in addition to compensation for moral damages in the amount of R$12,000 (about US $2,400). In January 2024, Judge Matheus Martins Moitinho, now head of the Special Courts of the District of Riachão do Jacuípe, did not accept the appeal presented by the defendants, making it impossible for the case to go to the second instance.
Rocha and São Paulo are presenters on Rádio Gazeta FM and, on March 25, 2021, they commented on the bidding exemptions of the city government of Riachão do Jacuípe, in the interior of the state.
Abraji repudiates the criminal conviction of journalists in the exercise of their profession."
