Lawyers' Institute Concerned Over Moraes's Decision Against Reporting Source on Dino

Brazil's judiciary is facing scrutiny over a decision that could undermine press freedom, with the Institute of Lawyers of São Paulo (Iasp) voicing significant concern. The institute is worried about a recent order by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to search a former Maranhão secretary, identified as a source for a blogger who published details about the alleged misuse of official vehicles by Minister Flávio Dino's family.

Diogo Leonardo Machado de Melo, president of the Iasp, stressed that source confidentiality is a fundamental constitutional guarantee. He stated that this protection is not a privilege for journalists but a safeguard for press freedom and society's right to information. Melo insisted that any measures leading to the identification of journalistic sources require strict constitutional oversight and that source confidentiality must be rigorously preserved.

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The confidentiality of sources, when necessary for professional practice, is a guarantee expressly assured by the Constitution. It does not constitute a privilege for the journalist nor immunity for the practice of illicit acts: it protects freedom of the press and society's right to information. Measures capable of leading, directly or indirectly, to the identification of journalistic sources therefore require rigorous constitutional control.

The search order, issued Tuesday, named Raimundo Cutrim, a former Maranhão secretary, as the source for journalist Luís Pablo Conceição Almeida. This action follows a previous Federal Police search of the blogger's phone in March, also under Moraes's order. Notably, Cutrim has been under house arrest since last month following a decision by Flávio Dino, who also removed him from his secretarial post as part of an investigation into a homicide case in the state.

In a joint statement, major Brazilian media associations, including Abert, ANJ, and Aner, condemned the judicial actions that breach source confidentiality. They argued that such measures lack constitutional basis and set dangerous precedents that threaten press freedom. The situation is further complicated by Justice Moraes's history of issuing at least four decisions that have favored Minister Flávio Dino and his allies in Maranhão, the state Moraes once governed.

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judicial actions that break source confidentiality have no constitutional basis and set precedents that threaten freedom of the press, protected by the Constitution.