The Court of Justice of São Paulo determined, this Monday (13/2), that federal deputy Gustavo Gayer (PL-GO), ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro, delete from his social networks a publication with false information about civil society organizations, and which defames the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).
The decision, in the second instance, determines that the deputy remove the publications on his Instagram profile and on the COS.TV platform within a period of five days, under penalty of a daily fine of R$ 1 thousand.
The video, titled “Serious allegation – NGOs may be behind the hunger of the Yanomami Indians”, falsely accuses the ISA of being responsible for the “misery” and humanitarian tragedy of the indigenous people, in an attempt to divert the focus from the Bolsonaro government’s responsibilities on the case.
According to the decision of the TJ-SP, “the contents of the publications made on social networks have malicious and criminal insinuations, which was demonstrated with the photos attached to the appeal and in searches of the mentioned sites”.
“(…) there is a perfect characterization of excess or violation of the right to free expression of thought, since what was said constitutes a serious and unfair offense to the honor and good reputation of the institution involved”, underlines the court.
The video suggests that the Mushroom Yanomami project, an initiative by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami with technical support from ISA, is one of those responsible for the health crisis and malnutrition in the Yanomami territory. Far from it, hunger and malnutrition in the area are the result of lack of attention to health in the Yanomami Indigenous Land and the impacts of illegal mining, such as the spread of diseases and the disruption of food production carried out by the Yanomami themselves (learn more below ).
The purpose of the action is to compensate for the moral damage suffered by ISA and prevent its aggravation by continuing to disseminate the video on social networks.
“The constitutional guarantee of these freedoms [de expressão e crítica] does not allow all kinds of lies and absurdities to be disclosed, without any concern with the minimum proof of verisimilitude of the alleged alleged facts, affecting the image, reputation and credibility of third parties”, says the text of the action.
The lawsuit also requests compensation for moral damage of R$50,000, to be fully reverted to the Yanomami.
About the Yanomami Mushroom project
The Mushroom Yanomami project encourages the acquisition of essential goods for the social reproduction of the Yanomami, such as tools and utensils, and the deepening of traditional knowledge about the managed species, being a possibility of income generation created by the communities themselves (find out more in the book Ana Amopö: Mushroomspublished by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, winner of the Jabuti Prize in 2017).
All income obtained from the sale of mushrooms is provided by the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, which reverts to its people. The Cogumelo Yanomami brand is owned by the Yanomami people and is registered at the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi) on behalf of the Hutukara Associação Yanomami. O ISA does not make any profit from the activity.
ISA, in partnership with the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, has carried out several remote monitoring actions in recent years in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, supporting complaints to the Public Power, campaigns to prevent Covid-19, to combat malaria and to combat insecurity to feed. The data are compiled in reports that can be easily accessed in the Instituto Socioambiental collection.
To learn more, learn about the campaign Out Garimpo, Out Covid and the website of 30 years of the Yanomami Indigenous Land. Download the reports Xawara: traces of Covid-19 in the Yanomami Indigenous Land and the omission of the State, Scars in the forest: evolution of illegal mining in the Yanomami TI in 2020 e Yanomami Under Attack.