Brazil President ordered to pay ‘moral damages’ to journalist

A Brazilian court has ordered that President Jair Bolsonaro pay damages to a journalist after he made remarks that questioned her credibility, according to newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

Bolsonaro suggested last year that Patrícia Campos Mello, a reporter for the paper, had offered sex to a source for negative information about him.

Campos Mello wrote a series of investigative news reports about a group using WhatsApp to boost Bolsonaro’s campaign by criticizing his rivals before the country’s 2018 presidential election.

Folha reported that Bolsonaro would have to pay the journalist 20,000 reais ($3,473) for “moral damages.” In a March 16 decision, judge Inah de Lemos e Silva Machado said the far-right leader violated “the honor” of the journalist, Folha said.

Campos Mello welcomed the decision in a tweet, calling the verdict a “victory for all of us women.”

The group Journalists Against Harassment said on Twitter: “Great day for women journalists. Great day for professional journalism.”

Campos Mello earlier this year won a case against the President’s son Eduardo Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to pay 30,000 reais ($5,210) after he claimed that the journalist “tried to seduce” sources in order to obtain information that could harm his father.

In his sentencing, the judge said Eduardo Bolsonaro should be more careful in his comments given his political role, and as son of the President.