(IPYS/IFEX) – On 31 October 2006, Fausto Brites, the editor of “Correio do Estado” newspaper, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined approximately US$875 for defamation. The sentence was meted out by Judge Cíntia Xavier Latteriello of the Fourth Criminal Court in Matto Grosso do Sul, a state in western […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 31 October 2006, Fausto Brites, the editor of “Correio do Estado” newspaper, was found guilty and sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined approximately US$875 for defamation.
The sentence was meted out by Judge Cíntia Xavier Latteriello of the Fourth Criminal Court in Matto Grosso do Sul, a state in western Brazil. The ruling was made in response to a lawsuit filed by André Puccinelli, former mayor of Campo Grande and governor-elect of Mato Grosso do Sul state, over a report on money laundering published by the newspaper in March 2005. The newspaper report had linked the case to an accusation it had published in 1999 about alleged corruption in garbage collecting companies in Campo Grande, in which Puccinelli was said to be involved. The ruling was published in the Court of Justice’s web page, although the newspaper has not yet been officially notified.
This alert was prepared by IPYS with information provided by the Brazilian Investigative Journalism Association (Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo, ABRAJI).
