(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the president of the Rio Grande do Sul State Court, Luiz Felipe Vasquez de Magalhães, RSF protested the censorship of an article in the daily “Jornal Pioneiro”. RSF asked the president to do everything possible to revoke the sanction against the newspaper. “It is inconceivable that censorship is still […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the president of the Rio Grande do Sul State Court, Luiz Felipe Vasquez de Magalhães, RSF protested the censorship of an article in the daily “Jornal Pioneiro”. RSF asked the president to do everything possible to revoke the sanction against the newspaper. “It is inconceivable that censorship is still being applied in a democratic country,” stated Robert Ménard. According to Article 5 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, adopted in October 2000 by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, “the prior censorship, direct or indirect interference in or pressure exerted upon any expression, opinion or information transmitted through any means of ⦠communication must be prohibited by law.”
According to information collected by RSF, on 22 August 2001, the judge of the Fifth Civil Court of Caxias do Sul, in Rio Grande do Sul state (bordering Uruguay), forbid the daily “Jornal Pioneiro” from publishing an article about a lawyer’s dismissal. Invoking “the inviolability of private life” and the protection of one’s reputation, the judge ruled in the lawyer’s favour and ordered the newspaper not to publish the incriminating article. The daily decided to heed the court’s decision and, as of 27 August, the article still had not been published.
Alerted of the newspaper’s intent to publish an article on his dismissal, the lawyer contacted the editorial offices asking that the information not be published. “Jornal Pioneiro” only agreed to not state the victim’s name. The lawyer immediately lodged a complaint. The newspaper’s lawyers are appealing the decision before the Rio Grande do Sul State Court.
