Supreme Court condemns Bolsonaro for statement 'quilombolas are not even useful for procreation'

The congressman will have to pay R$ 50,000 for slander to the Federal Fund for Defending Diffuse Rights, as ruled Judge François Elizabeth Mendes of the 26th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro
Julia Affonso and Fausto Macedo

Judge François Mendes sentenced Jair Bolsonaro (PSC-RJ), in a public civil action, to pay a sum of R$ 50,000 in damages. The Federal Public Ministry, in Rio, through the attorneys general of the Republic, Ana Padilha and Renato Machado, accused Bolsonaro of slander against quilombola communities and to the black population in general.

On April 3, the congressman gave a speech at the Hebraica Club in Rio de Janeiro, where, according to the Attorney General, he 'offended and deprecated the black population and individuals belonging to the quilombola communities, as well as incited discrimination against them' . At the time, the congressman told an anecdote about visiting a quilombola community and "the thinnest afro-brazilian there weighed seven arrobas.” (TN: unity of weight used mostly when speaking about cattle and other farm animals) Still quoting the visit, he also said: "They just laze around all day, I don’t think they’re even useful when it comes to procreation.”

In the action, the prosecutors of the Republic maintained that Bolsonaro spread distorted information, abusive, prejudiced and discriminatory expressions with the clear purpose of offending, ridiculing, mistreating and dehumanizing quilombola communities and the black population. The Federal Public Ministry had requested R$ 300,000 of moral damages.

Bolsonaro claims that the lawsuit was a "blatantly political attack," and that his statements "are blatantly interpreted biased and with a clear intention to harm his image and his entire family." The deputy also stated that he had been 'invited by Hebraica RJ as a Federal Congressman to expose his ideologies to the general public' and that, in this capacity, 'he‘s under parliamentary immunity, which is inviolable, civically and criminally, by any of his opinions,words and votes, as stated  in article 53 of the CRFB '.

When condemning Bolsonaro, the judge stated. "It is important to emphasize that, as a member of the Legislative Branch, and as a person of the highest public knowledge at the national level, the defendant has a duty to assume a more respectful attitude toward the citizens and groups that he represents, since their attitudes influence people, and may incite exaggerated and harmful reactions to the community. "

The press office of Jair Bolsonaro reported that the congressman 'will appeal'.