Gilmar Mendes revokes decision that gave Sergio Moro the right to respond against opponent propaganda

Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), revoked the decisions of the Regional Electoral Court of Paraná (TRE-PR) that had granted the right of reply to senator Sergio Moro (PL) against an electoral advertisement by his opponent that insinuates that he is in favor of abortion.

With the STF's decision, the advertisement for candidate Sandro Alex (PSD) can be shown again and the insertions that Moro would be entitled to in response will be suspended. Both are running for government of Paraná.

The piece that had been taken down cited excerpts from Moro's doctoral thesis on Roe v. Wade, judged by the Supreme Court of the United States and who recognized the constitutional right to abortion in that country. In the document, the now candidate classified the foreign decision as an "intermediate solution" that "is still reasonable".

The advertisement displayed a graphic card saying "ABORTION = REASONABLE SOLUTION". Sergio Moro's fierce defense countered that the message omitted the academic context of the text and falsely attributed to the candidate the defense of the practice of abortion.

Gilmar stated in the decision that this is political criticism, that freedom of expression during electoral periods covers blunt opinions or those that expose contradictions in the trajectory of public agents and that the propaganda used public documents and facts, so that the controversy "does not constitute disinformation or known untruth".

The request for the right to reply was initially rejected by the TRE-PR plenary, which understood that propaganda remained within the limits of political criticism and freedom of expression in a democratic environment. However, in an urgent monocratic decision, the president of the court granted Moro the right to respond on radio, TV and social media – a right revoked by Gilmar in the early hours of this Saturday (3).