Justice determines that Grupo Diário delete untruthful content about Colonel Bonates

From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The judge on duty at the Court of Justice of the Amazon (TJAM) Simone Laurent Arruda da Silva ordered the Group Daily Communication, which manages the portal D24am, the immediate exclusion of matter that associates the former secretary of Public Safety of the Amazon (SSP/AM) Louismar Bonates to an investigation that runs in secret from Justice and is at the stage of collecting testimonies.

For the magistrate, the text of the Portal D24am “exceeded the journalistic content” in that there was emission of “derogatory value judgment” and contains, according to Simone Laurent, “fallacious publications. The judge also argues that the material makes accusations against Bonates “without foundation or factual evidence. The story was published on Wednesday, 11, and the decision issued the same day.

The text of the Portal D24am was based on a print with the logo of the Amazonas Public Ministry (MP-AM) that contains, according to the report, the statement of the delegate removed Samir Garzedim Freire, who served as deputy executive state secretary of intelligence of Amazonas (Seai). Samir is investigated in Operation ‘Urban Mining’, launched on July 9 last year.

By the publication of D24am, the delegate reported that the SSP/AM acquired a phone call monitoring equipment, in 2016, in the management of former governor Jose Melo, known as “Spy Case” and pointed as the means by which Samir and a group of investigators extorted businessmen in operations.

In prints published by the Diário Group, the text pointed as the statement of Samir Freire delegate does not mention the involvement of the former secretary of the SSP/AM in the case that is the subject of investigation of the Amazonas Public Ministry (MP-AM) and Federal Police (PF).

Despite the absence of facts that associate Louismar Bonates with Operation Urban Mining, recalled in a report by Portal D24am, the name of the former Secretary of Public Safety is used in the main title of the story as well as his image. The story does not inform whether the MP-AM or the PF were sought to manifest themselves on the matter.

‘Depreciative value judgment’

In deciding to exclude the article from D24am, which involves Louismar Bonates, Judge Simone Laurent Arruda da Silva justifies the lack of “factual basis,” that is, absence of facts.

“(The content) accuses the plaintiff of crimes, without any basis or factual evidence to translate the story as informative, only representing personal opinions of the defendant about the author,” says the judge.

Simone Laurent also explained that the publication went beyond informative nature by issuing personal opinion that, according to her, is aggravated by the digital material having a high range of dissemination.

“It should be noted that the content of the impugned publications exceeds the journalistic content, to the extent that in them was issued a derogatory value judgment to the applicant, a fact aggravated by the obvious multiplying effect that the materials are covered in virtual environment, which, by itself, it is recommended to grant the request formulated,” said Simone Laurent.

The judge also concluded that the article of the Portal D24am made public a secret investigation with the objective, according to Simone Laurent, of compromising the image of the former Secretary of Public Safety of Amazonas.

“It exposes an investigation that is under secrecy of Justice and contains heavy and fallacious publications to his detriment, with the sole purpose of tarnishing his honor,” explains the judge when referring to Louismar Bonates.

The order of Simone Laurent against the Portal D24am met, partially, a “Lawsuit of Obligation to Do” moved by Bonates and reached, also, the sites “24 Horas and Interagindo Com A Notícia”, which reproduced the material. The portals may appeal the decision in court.

Read the Justice decision in full