Brazilian TV ordered to remove images of Bolsonaro attacking the electoral system during an event with ambassadors

The judge of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Mauro Campbell, has ordered this Wednesday to withdraw from Brazilian public television the video of the meeting held by President Jair Bolsonaro with several ambassadors, in which he launched unfounded accusations about the reliability of the electoral system.

The TSE has determined that TV Brasil withdraw from all its platforms the images of that meeting of last July 18 at the Alvorada Palace in which Bolsonaro again tried to sow doubts about the electronic ballot boxes, this time among a large representation of foreign diplomats.

Judge Campbell’s ruling, in response to a petition filed by the Democratic Labor Party (PDT), holds that “material disseminated on social networks, due to the proximity of the elections” can be considered an “abusive practice” in order to win votes.

In turn, it points out that there is an “evident” and “irreversible” risk not only to the plaintiff, in this case the PDT, but also to the Electoral Justice itself, “due to the dissemination of false information”, which “has already been vehemently refuted” by the TSE, Campbell explained.

The judge has warned that Bolsonaro, “far from adopting a collaborative position with the improvement of the electoral system,” “deliberately” insists on manifesting “falsehoods” about the electoral system and the vote count.

Campbell goes further and warned that the Brazilian president’s speech “seems to constitute an abuse in the exercise of freedom of expression, knowing that in Brazil there is no fundamental right that is absolute in nature.”

In parallel to this decision, the Prosecutor’s Office has made known this Wednesday to the Supreme Court the opening of a preliminary investigation into the possible commission of a crime by Bolsonaro that day.

In total, about ten ambassadors attended that meeting, as well as between 65 and 80 people belonging to different diplomatic corps. The staff present, to which the newspaper ‘O Globo’ had access, highlighted that during the meeting accusations were launched without showing evidence, even going so far as to assure concern for the state of health of Brazilian democracy.