The author of the proposed amendment, Roberto Cavalcanti, also tabled a bill in the Senate to give priority to putting on trial those charged with murdering newsmen

A proposed amendment to the Brazilian Constitution (PEC), which would put investigations into crimes against journalists under federal jurisdiction, went under debate in the federal Senate on June 9.

The proposal’s author, Roberto Cavalcanti of the PRB-PB party, obtained the signatures of 29 legislators (see list at end). If it is passed in the two chambers of Congress it could, at Cavalcanti’s suggestion, be named the Tim Lopes Law, in reference to the journalist of that name murdered in Rio de Janeiro in 2001.

The senator felt that in making federal courts competent to try cases of crimes committed against journalists because of their work local political interference in the investigations could be averted.

Citing figures compiled by the organization Reporters Without Borders Cavalcanti disclosed that in only the first six months of this year there have been 12 murders of journalists around the world. For him such crimes also amount to an attack upon freedom of the press.

“It is essential to be clear about the fact that there will never be freedom of the press if there is no deep respect for the work of these professionals, including with guarantees to safeguard their physical wellbeing,” Cavalcanti declared.

“The right to information and freedom of expression will have merely rhetorical value if the work of journalists is seen to be subjected, day in and day out, to threats and intimidation of all kinds,” he added.

“That is why it is not unusual for investigative reporting to be moving ahead on the inter-state connections of organized crime, taking advantage of the various means of communication. Therefore nothing is more just and coherent than to rescue the national dimension of the work of the press, bringing the trial of cases of attacks upon press freedom under federal jurisdiction,” the senator stressed.

Priority

Along with the proposed constitutional amendment Calvacanti submitted on June 9 Senate Bill No. 167/2010, which seeks for priority to be given to investigations into crimes against members of the press.

The proposal consists of changing the text of Clause 1 of Arrticle 429 of the Criminal Proceedings Code, which establishes preferential criteria in the setting of guidelines for trial by jury.

“Freedom of the press must be regarded as an essential condition for democracy, in line with what is set forth in Article 5, IV, IX and XIV of the Federal Constitution. In this regard, it is for the criminal proceedings law to adopt mechanisms and procedures corresponding to this primordial value of democratic regimes,” it concluded.

LEGISLATORS WHO SIGNED THE BILL FOR AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION:
Arthur Virgílio (PSDB-AM); Acir Gurgacz (PDT-RO); Adelmir Santana (DEM-DF); Antonio Carlos Júnior (DEM-BA); César Borges (PR-BA); Cícero Lucena (PSDB-PB); Delcídio Amaral (PT-MS); Demóstenes Torres (DEM-GO); Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB-MG); Eduardo Suplicy (PT-SP); Flexa Ribeiro (PSDB-PA); Francisco Dornelles (PP-RJ); Geraldo Mesquita Júnior (PMDB-AC ); Inácio Arruda(PC DO B-CE); João Durval (PDT-BA); João Tenório (PSDB-AL); Marconi Perillo-PSDB-GO); Marco Maciel (DEM-PE); Mário Couto (PSDB-PA); Neuto De Conto (PMDB-SC); Marisa Serrano (PSDB-MS); Osmar Dias (PDT-PR); Papaléo Paes (PSDB-AP); Patrícia Saboya (PDT-CE); Paulo Paim (PT-RS); Renato Casagrande (PSB-ES); Romeu Tuma (PTB-SP); Valdir Raupp (PMDB-RO) and Valter Pereira (PMDB-MS).