The court of Mato Grosso prohibits the group Gazeta to publish negative material about a Senate candidate

The court of Mato Grosso, midwest of Brazil, granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the group Gazeta Comunicação from conveying in a television program and in the newspaper "A Gazeta" material "negative" or "indicating" that the congressman and candidate to Senate Carlos Abicalil (PT, same as Lula) is in favor of abortion.

The preliminary injunction was granted after the newspaper published the story on the appeal signed by 67 members of Congress, including Abicalil, to take the law project to decriminalize abortion to be debated in plenary. This material was later used on the electoral program of Antero Paes de Barros Neto (PSDB, opposition party), also a candidate for the Senate.

"This is another case of censorship, it is a violence against information", says João Dorileo Leal, owner of the Gazeta Comunicação. He believes that the preliminary injunction is also a form of economic repression because it determines a fine of $ 54,000 per issue that desrespect the resolution. According to Leal, the group appealed the injunction as soon as it was notificated. 

Besides the injunction, there was a request for search and seizure. "The newspaper received a visit from a police officer, but no electoral material was found", says Leal. 

According to the Mato Grosso Regional Electoral Court (TRE) judge Lídio Modesto da Silva Filho, who granted the preliminary injunction, the case can not be considered censorship. "There was a representation of Carlos Abicalil saying that the group had published lies about him", says Lídio Modesto.

According to Abicalil’s press office,  the newspaper and the TV channel are prohibited only from "lying". "The congressman signed the request to put the project under discussion in Congress, but never voted in favor of abortion".