(IPYS/IFEX) – On 15 June 2005, Brazil’s High Court agreed to hear a case against journalist Cláudio Júlio Tognolli and Regional Attorney Luiz Francisco Fernandes de Souza for allegedly offending and slandering Senator Jorge Bornhausen in a 2003 story published on the “Consultor Jurídico” website. The story, entitled, “Eye of the Hurricane: Public Prosecutor’s Office […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 15 June 2005, Brazil’s High Court agreed to hear a case against journalist Cláudio Júlio Tognolli and Regional Attorney Luiz Francisco Fernandes de Souza for allegedly offending and slandering Senator Jorge Bornhausen in a 2003 story published on the “Consultor Jurídico” website.
The story, entitled, “Eye of the Hurricane: Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Bornhausen of laundering US$15 billion”, affirmed that Bornhausen was investigated for laundering money from organised crime, including drug dealing, through Banco Araucária, a financial institution owned by the senator’s family. Souza was the reporter’s principal source for the story. The senator claims that, after the story was published, other newspapers also ran the information.
According to the High Court, the accusation was accepted because “the reporter did not limit himself to only writing what his interviewee said. In some parts [of the story], he reproduced, incorporated and added other elements, trying to give it additional force and intensity.”
The fact that the High Court agreed to hear the case is the first step toward an actual lawsuit against the journalist and lawyer. Four of the 11 High Court judges voted against hearing the case.
This alert was prepared by IPYS with information provided by the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, ABRAJI).
