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Brazilian Cartoonists Face Criminal Probes Under Bolsonaro

Pete Cobus

   WASHINGTON - Brazil's decision to seek charges against political
   cartoonists has been met with derision by experts who say authorities
   should focus on addressing the issues the artists satirized, including
   poor policing and a weak pandemic response, instead of trying to
   silence the media.

   The government of President Jair Bolsonaro is investigating five
   cartoonists and one blogger over satirical cartoons that his government
   alleges violate national security.

   On June 15, Brazilian Minister of Justice André Mendonça issued a
   series of tweets calling on federal police and prosecutors to
   investigate Renato Aroeira for a June 14 illustration that showed
   Bolsonaro using a paintbrush to transform the Red Cross medical symbol
   into a swastika.

   Bolsonaro, who had previously tested positive for the coronavirus, has
   been widely criticized for sidelining medical experts in Brazil's
   handling of the pandemic, which has become [1]the worst in the world
   outside of the United States.

   Mendonça also called for an investigation into Ricardo Noblat, a
   prominent journalist who runs a blog for the Brazilian weekly Veja, for
   reposting Aroeira's cartoon on his Twitter feed.
   The Justice Ministry says the cartoon violates Article 26 of the
   National Security Law, which criminalizes slander and defamation of
   heads of state and allows up to four years in prison.
   The opposition party, Sustainability Network, requested that the court
   suspend [2]the investigation.
   The request was criticized by at least one lawmaker, who argued on
   Twitter that by associating the president with Nazis, the cartoon had
   pushed the boundaries of freedom of expression.
   In a separate case, Folha de São Paulo [3]reported on June 13 that
   four of its contributing cartoonists -- Alberto Benett, Laerte
   Coutinho, João Montanaro and Claudio Mor -- were named in a criminal
   complaint filed by Defenda PM, a military police association.

   Defenda PM said the cartoons, published in December 2019, "embarrassed"
   their members by depicting an incident of police activity that
   triggered a stampede resulting in civilian deaths.
   The Ministry of Justice did not respond to VOA's email requesting
   comment.
   The Brazil embassy in Washington referred VOA to a [4]June 15 tweet by
   Bolsonaro's special secretary for social media, which says "false
   accusation of crime is a crime."
   "Noblat and the cartoonist are accusing the president of the very
   serious crime of Nazism," a translation of the tweet read. "Unless they
   prove their accusation, which is impossible, they incur false
   imputation of crime and will answer for that crime."

References

   1. https://projects.voanews.com/coronavirus/
   2. https://cpj.org/2020/07/brazilian-minister-of-justice-calls-for-criminal-investigations-of-2-journalists-cartoonist/
   3. https://bit.ly/3fQo7No
   4. https://twitter.com/secomvc/status/1272508074725605376?lang=en

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