Nunes Marques requests a trial in person in the Supreme Court for Bolsonaro’s blocking of followers on the Internet | Politics

Consequently, the case must be taken to the STF’s face-to-face plenary session, but there is still no set date to return to the subject.

In the virtual plenary, the ministers only cast their votes and there is no discussion of the agenda. The face-to-face sessions are being held by videoconference due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The lawsuit analyzes the specific case of a lawyer who was blocked after criticizing the role of the president in the Federal Police. In the lawsuit, the lawyer says he commented on a post by Bolsonaro in May, with a photo showing the dialogue between Congresswoman Carla Zambelli (PSL-SP) and former minister Sergio Moro.

In the image, Carla and Moro spoke of the permanence of the then general director of the PF, Maurício Valeixo, in the position. The lawyer commented that Bolsonaro “wanted and wanted to intervene in the Federal Judicial Police for his own interests and those of his children, which in itself is absurd.” Then it was blocked in the profile of the president.

Before the virtual trial was interrupted by Nunes Marques, only the informant minister, Marco Aurélio Mello, had cast his vote. For Mello, the president cannot act as a “censor of social media complaints.”

“It is not up to the President of the Republic to claim the role of censor of statements on social networks, blocking the petitioner’s profile, in what reveals a dangerous precedent,” said the minister in his vote.

In the rapporteur’s understanding, there was no excess in the lawyer’s statement. “The expression, in a social network, of opinion, promoting agreement or disagreement, is protected by freedom of expression. The state limitation to the latter must be understood as the maximum exceptionality and only occur when it is supported by obvious signs of abuse “, reflected the minister.

“There was not, by the petitioner, a categorical statement against the democratic regime or representative of hate speech,” he added.

The minister also considered that the messages published on the president’s profile are not only of a personal nature, but also concern important matters for the whole of society. In this way, it can be understood as “administrative act practiced in the exercise of Public Power”.

“The messages published by the accused are not limited to personal, intimate or private issues. They refer to relevant issues for the entire community, using the profile as a means of communication of the official acts of the Chief of the Federal Executive”, Marco Aurélio emphasized. .

“The action in a social network of public access, in which content of general interest was transmitted through a profile identified with the position he occupies – President of the Republic – reveals an administrative act practiced in the exercise of Public Power” , he concluded.

In this same action, the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, defends that President Jair Bolsonaro can block followers on social networks. The ruling against the attorney’s request was sent by the PGR in September.