BRASILIA, Jan 22, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – A Brazilian court on Thursday ordered
the lawmaker son of President Jair Bolsonaro to pay damages to a journalist
after claiming she had “tried to seduce” a source to obtain compromising
information about the far-right leader.
Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro “attacked the honor” of journalist Patricia Campos
Mello, “questioning the seriousness of her journalism and of her employer,”
the highly respected daily Folha de S.Paulo, the court said.
The 36-year-old was ordered to pay 30,000 reais ($5,600) in compensation
for moral damage.
Eduardo Bolsonaro had claimed on YouTube last May that Campos Mello had
tried to seduce an employee of a digital marketing company to obtain
information.
He also claimed the award-winning journalist had been promoted for
publishing false information. He then reiterated his statements on Twitter.
The lawmaker took particular aim at an investigation that Campos Mello
worked on, into an organization that slandered Jair Bolsonaro’s opponents on
WhatsApp during his 2018 presidential campaign.
The judge noted that Eduardo Bolsonaro, “occupying such an important
national position… and being the son of the current president of the
Republic… had to be more careful in his statements.”
“It’s a great day,” Campos Mello said after the court’s decision, which can
still be appealed.
Jair Bolsonaro himself launched attacks on the journalist last February,
insinuating that she had offered sex with a source in exchange for negative
information about him.