RIO DE JANEIRO, March 28 — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to pay compensation to a journalist for making degrading remarks against her, according to a court document obtained by AFP yesterday.
According to the decision by a Sao Paulo court, Bolsonaro will have to pay 20,000 reais (about RM14,400) to Patricia Campos Mello, a reporter with the respected daily Folha De S. Paulo.
The judge ruled in a March 16 decision that the far-right leader had “damaged the honour of the complainant, causing moral damage.”
Bolsonaro can appeal the decision.
The circumstances of the case date back to February 2020, when Bolsonaro insinuated that Campos Mello had offered sex to a source in exchange for negative information about him.
Campos Mello wrote several investigative stories on an organisation that slandered Bolsonaro’s opponents on WhatsApp during his 2018 presidential campaign.
On January 21, she scored a legal victory against Bolsonaro’s son, Edouardo, who was ordered to pay 30,000 reais ($5,600) in compensation for moral damage after claiming she “tried to seduce” a source for damaging information against his father. — AFP
