The Committee to Protect Journalists and nine other international and local organizations, as part of the Brazilian Coalition in Defense of Journalism, in a joint statement condemned the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) for its decision to violate a journalist’s constitutional right of source confidentiality.
“Like any other citizen, journalists are subject to the law and may be investigated for any crimes they have committed. However, it is unacceptable to reverse the investigative process and violate the constitutional right to source confidentiality in order to gather information and find evidence of illegal activities,” the statement notes.
The Coalition calls on the STF to hour its history of upholding press freedom and to re-establish source confidentiality protection in accordance with the Brazilian Constitution.
Read the full statement in Portuguese here.