Public Note #40 – Redress for the journalists attacked by Jair Bolsonaro’s security guards

The Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights – the Arns Commission – goes public to express its most vehement repudiation of the aggressions suffered by Brazilian journalists in the city of Rome, this Sunday, October 31, during a trip of President Jair Bolsonaro and his delegation to the Italian capital.

It is disheartening to see that the violence against press professionals apparently took place with the purpose of ridding the Brazilian president from getting in contact with those who, as a matter of duty, need to investigate and deliver information to the public. It would be no different in an event of the relevance of the G20 Summit, with which Jair Bolsonaro nothing contributed, except for his irrelevance and ability to lie about our reality.

These violations must not remain unpunished. It is necessary to investigate what led employees paid by the Brazilian State to attack fellow compatriots who were acting in strict compliance with their professional duty. It is also necessary to elucidate how and why Italian security agents participated in the same deplorable scenes. To obtain these and other clarifications, the Arns Commission informs that it will require further explanations from the Brazilian and Italian authorities.

To the journalists of BBC Brasil, Folha de S. Paulo, TV Globo, and UOL, victims of a violence that at the same time outrages and embarrasses us, we express our profound solidarity. We are sure that these professionals will continue their daily work, defending the right to information, freedom of expression, and democracy.