MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro convicted for remarks about Venezuelan women

Bolsonaro's defense plans to appeal the ruling

A court of appeals in Brasilia on Thursday reversed former President Jair Bolsonaro's lower court acquittal in the case regarding his remarks about Venezuelan teenagers, and ordered him to pay R$150,000 (US$27,165) in collective moral damages for hinting that the girls were prostitutes.

The decision was handed down by the Federal District and Territories Court of Justice (TJDFT) when ruling on an appeal by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

By a majority vote, the Fifth Panel of the court found that the former president's statements caused “suffering and harassment” to the teenagers and their families.

“The phrase 'painted a picture' in reference to teenagers, coupled with the direct and malicious inference that earning a living refers to sexual exploitation or prostitution, objectifies young women, sexualizes them, and insinuates, in an unacceptable manner, a situation of vulnerability and sexual availability. Such an approach is blatantly misogynistic, as it links female physical appearance to a pejorative sexual connotation, and aporophobic, as it associates the social condition of migrants and economic hardship with the supposed need for prostitution,” the court ruled.

During the 2022 election campaign, Bolsonaro gave an interview to a podcast channel and recounted that, during a visit to the town of São Sebastião, in the Federal District (DF), in 2021, he came across well-dressed Venezuelan teenagers, which, in his opinion, showed that they were being subjected to sexual exploitation to “earn a living.”

“I was in Brasília, in the community of São Sebastião, if I'm not mistaken, on a Saturday, on my motorcycle. I stopped the motorcycle on a corner, took off my helmet, and looked at some little girls. Three, four. Pretty. Fourteen, fifteen years old. Well-groomed, on a Saturday, in a community. And I saw that they were kind of similar. I got a feeling, so I went back. Can I come into your house? I went in. There were about 15, 20 girls, Saturday morning, getting ready, all Venezuelan. And I ask: cute girls aged 14, 15, getting ready on Saturday for what? To earn a living,” said Bolsonaro.

In addition to paying compensation, the former president is banned from coercing children and adolescents to reproduce violent gestures, disseminating images of children on the internet, and using words with sexual connotations in situations involving children.

An appeal may be filed with the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).

Bolsonaro's lawyer Marcelo Bessa said the former president's defense “was surprised by the decision” because “the grounds adopted by the Court completely disregard definitive decisions handed down by the Superior Electoral Court and the Federal Supreme Court on the matter, cite evidence that does not exist in the case files, and for these reasons, the aforementioned decision will certainly not prevail in the Superior Court of Justice,” he said. (Source: Agencia Brasil)