President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva commented on Friday (12), in São Paulo, on the decision by the United States government to remove Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes and his wife, Viviane, from the list of individuals sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act. For Lula, the application of the law was unjust, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to lift the sanctions against the Supreme Court justice “is good for Brazil and for Brazilian democracy.”
“Silvio Santos would have turned 95 [today], and Alexandre de Moraes turns 57 tomorrow. And I pass on to him, as a gift, the recognition that it was not fair for the president of another country to punish a justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court simply for fulfilling the Brazilian Constitution,” Lula said during an event at the Brazilia TV channel SBT, in São Paulo.
“I was very happy about this recognition, but there are still more people [who should be removed from the application of the law], because it is unacceptable for the president of one country to punish, using his own laws, authorities of another country who are exercising democracy. Therefore, your victory [Alexandre de Moraes] is the victory of Brazilian democracy,” the president added.
The Magnitsky Act is used by the U.S. government to impose sanctions on foreign individuals. Justice Alexandre de Moraes was added to the sanctions list in July of this year.
Earlier, Alexandre de Moraes also commented on the U.S. decision. “The truth has prevailed. And we can say, with satisfaction and humility, that this was a triple victory. First, the victory of the Brazilian judiciary, which did not bow to threats or coercion and will not do so, and which continued to act with impartiality, seriousness and courage. It is also a victory for national sovereignty. President Lula, from the very first moment, said that the country would not accept any violation of Brazilian sovereignty. And above all, it was a victory for democracy,” Moraes said.
Lula attended the inauguration ceremony of the SBT News channel on Friday, which will begin broadcasting next Monday (15). The event took place on the same day that the network’s founder, former TV host Silvio Santos, who died last year, would have turned 95.
During the event, the president also spoke about the importance of a free press for Brazilian democracy.
“A journalist does not exist to judge. Those who judge are judges. Journalists exist to inform, and to inform based on the truth, no matter who it hurts. And I say this with great authority, because I turned 80 on October 27, surviving into a third term, and I have never called a journalist, a TV network owner or a newspaper owner to ask them not to publish a story against the government. The press is only useful if it is free. If it is partisan or ideologically driven, it fails in its role of properly informing society,” Lula said.
Also present at the event were First Lady Janja Lula da Silva; Vice President Geraldo Alckmin; ministers Fernando Haddad (Finance), Sidônio Pereira (Social Communication), Frederico Siqueira (Communications) and Ricardo Lewandowski (Justice and Public Security); Supreme Court justices Gilmar Mendes and Alexandre de Moraes; São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas; São Paulo Mayor Ricardo Nunes; and the president of Brazil’s public broadcaster Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), André Basbaum.
