Court reverses conviction of councilor for video staging of bribery involving inspector in São José

In the recording, Thomaz appears on the scene calling the inspector a “bum”, simulates a physical attack against the server and, in the end, invites entrepreneurs to call him to “put an end to the inspectors’ antics”, promoting what he called “the entrepreneur’s patrol”. O vídeo foi apagado depois. The action was filed by the union, which argued that the content went beyond the limits of political criticism and associated, in a generic way, inspectors with the practice of crimes such as concussion and passive corruption. In a note released this Wednesday (22), SindServ-SJC informed that it "respects the decision made by the Court of Justice, but disagrees with the understanding adopted and informs that it will appeal to higher courts" - read the full note below. In February this year, judge Daniel Toscano, from the 8th Civil Court of São José dos Campos, sentenced the councilor to pay R$50,000 for collective moral damages. In the decision, the judge stated that the video was a skit produced for electoral propaganda purposes and understood that the content affected the honor of the entire category of municipal inspectors. O Tribunal de Justiça também concluiu que não houve dano moral coletivo. According to the decision, the video remained available for a few days, was removed by the author himself and there is no evidence that it caused threats, embarrassment or concrete losses to municipal inspectors. The rapporteur, Wagner Carvalho Lima, understood that the video had a satirical character and a political criticism of the public administration bureaucracy, without individual offense to any public servant. Segundo o acórdão, esse tipo de manifestação é protegido pelo direito constitucional à liberdade de expressão. With the decision, the Court of Justice also ended up ordering the union to pay procedural costs and expenses, in addition to legal fees set at 10% of the updated value of the case. See what councilor Thomaz Henrique said about the decision: "I'm happy that justice has been reestablished. I will continue to face and denounce the corruption of city hall inspectors with courage, without being intimidated by the attempts to silence me. The R$50,000 should be invested in my campaign for state deputy." Read the full note from SindServ-SJC: "SindServ-SJC respects the decision made by the Court of Justice of São Paulo, but disagrees with the understanding adopted and informs that it will appeal to higher courts, as it understands that the matter still requires legal reassessment. For the entity, the content published by the councilor went beyond the limits of political criticism and freedom of expression, by generically associating public servants with the practice of illicit acts, using offensive expressions and staging violence against professionals who exercise essential functions for the population. The Union reaffirms its commitment to defending the honor, dignity and respect of municipal employees and will continue to adopt all applicable legal measures to protect the category and combat demonstrations that contribute to the devaluation of public service." See more news from Vale do Paraíba and the Bragantina region