October 7, 2021

08:10

Gabriel Abreu – from Cenarium

MANAUS – The CENARIUM AGENCY, content generator of REVISTA CENARIUM, won this week a lawsuit so that the investigative report against the wife of the vice-governor, Carlos Almeida (PSDB), the student Tarciana Almeida, could be broadcasted again in the company’s communication channels. The decision was handed down by the Third Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of Amazonas (TJAM), on September 27.

The rapporteur of the case, Judge João Simões, accepted the arguments of the defense of CENARIUM for the communication company to publish, again, the investigative story published on May 31. The lawsuit that requested the removal was filed by Tarciana’s former partner, the businessman Glênis Gomes Steckel.

Decision

The judge heeded the arguments of CENARIUM’s lawyer, Christian Naranjo, claiming that the decision of the magistrate of first instance – who asked for the removal of the report – infringed the right to freedom of information.

João Simões considered that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) had already judged an action of Argument of Noncompliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF). The ADPF is an action of concentrated control of constitutionality brought by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and its purpose is to combat acts that do not respect the fundamental precepts of the Constitution.

“The Federal Supreme Court has emphatically prohibited censorship of journalistic publications, as well as making any type of state intervention in the dissemination of news and opinions exceptional, so that the repair of any injury to the right to personality should give prestige to the means of rectification, right of reply, or compensation”, argued the magistrate in this decision.

In his vote, the judge also considered that the trial court violated the authority of the decisions of the STF and considered as censorship the removal of journalistic content. The decision was followed by all the judges who compose the Third Civil Chamber of the Court of Amazonas.

“Thus, it is that the appealed decision should not be maintained, because it violated the authority of the decisions of the Supreme Court – in ADPF 130 – by determining previous censorship, in other words, the removal (prohibition of broadcasting) of journalistic content of the media, without favoring a possible sanction a posteriori of the aggravating party. Based on these reasons, it is imperative to know and grant the present Interlocutory Appeal in order to dismiss the injunction requested in the first degree records”, voted the judge.

Arguments

CENARIUM’s lawyer and legal consultant, Christhian Naranjo, said that the judges understood that the report did not inflict the suitability of the businessman cited in the report.

“We argued that the story was about freedom of information, faithful reproduction of the facts of the criminal case, without value judgment or subjectivism. We also argued that the decision went against the understanding pacified by the STF, which understands that the right to publish the news must be guaranteed, and the interested party must avail himself of others. And the judge accepted our arguments and revoked the order that determined the removal, and not the censorship, to claim rights that he considers have been violated”, explained Naranjo.

Evidence-based investigation

Legal experts consulted evaluated that the verification of the material published is based on real information and evidence. CENARIUM emphasizes that it acts in an ethical and transparent way, based on truth, publishing articles with data and based on the opinion of several experts, technicians, and the position of controlling and inspection agencies of the State, as occurred with the reports that mention Glênis Gomes Steckel.