Public Note #36 – Freedom of expression is not a case for the police

Concerned by the frequent attacks on freedom of expression and also by the attacks committed under the false pretext of defending this freedom, the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights goes public to express its solidarity with sociologist Celso Rocha de Barros, a columnist of the Folha de São Paulo newspaper.

As was the case of Professor Conrado Hübner Mendes, also a columnist for this same newspaper, this is yet another episode in which a public intellectual is threatened in his regular press activity, becoming the target of an intimidation tactic, with the clear purpose of silencing.

This is what happened when pro-government senators Eduardo Girão (Podemos Party – State of Ceará) and Luiz Carlos Heinze (Progressistas Party – State of Rio Grande do Sul) agreed to do when saying they were offended by one of the newspaper columns of Rocha de Barros (“Consultório do crime tenta salvar Bolsonaro na CPI da Covid” – “Criminal cabinet tries to save Bolsonaro in the COVID Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry”, Folha de São Paulo newspaper, 05/09/2021*).* They denounced the columnist, asking the Senate Police to open an investigation against him.

By acting like this, parliamentarians seem to be unaware of the procedures that are ensured to them, such as going to court using the right of reply or right of correction to speak up on the Senate floor. However, they preferred to call the police, – in this case, a legislative police with no competence to investigate – which only increases the absurdity.

Always acting in defense of freedom of expression as a fundamental right, both in Brazil and internationally, the Arns Commission expresses its support to Rocha de Barros, while denouncing the increasing judicial harassment that journalists from various parts of the country have been suffering. They are professionals who have been entangled by new and old forms of censorship that are stimulated by those who want to interdict the debate of ideas, deny science, and inflate fanaticism.