(IPYS/IFEX) – On 22 November 2005, Attorney General Bruno Acioly announced his intention to file a new request at the beginning of December for the list of telephone calls made and received by four journalists. In June, Acioly and his colleague Raquel Branquinho had asked the Tenth Federal Court (Decima Sala Federal de Justicia) in […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 22 November 2005, Attorney General Bruno Acioly announced his intention to file a new request at the beginning of December for the list of telephone calls made and received by four journalists.
In June, Acioly and his colleague Raquel Branquinho had asked the Tenth Federal Court (Decima Sala Federal de Justicia) in Brasilia for authorisation to obtain the list of the reporters’ telephone calls. However, Judge Maria de Fátima de Paula Pessoa Costa decided that there was no reason to grant the request. Acioly is now intending to appeal that decision.
Although Acioly has not revealed the names of the journalists who would be affected, the newspaper “O Estado de S. Paulo” speculated on the names of three of them: Expedito Filho, Policarpo Júnior and Alexandre Oltramari. In 1999 they published a series of reports in “Veja” magazine on bankers who had carried out illegal operations after obtaining confidential information about an imminent change in the government’s financial policy.
Acioly, who is investigating the charges, said he wants the list of the calls in order to identify the sources, who were allegedly involved in the illegal operations. According to Acioly, obtaining the list will facilitate his investigation, which was launched in 1999. He also stated that he favours “working to strengthen the confidentiality of sources,” guaranteed under the Constitution since 1988.
The Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, ABRAJI) has issued a statement on the case (see http://www.abraji.org.br).
This alert was prepared by IPYS with information provided by ABRAJI.
