A Brazilian federal court on Tuesday imposed a fine of one million Brazilian reais (roughly $188,750) on conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro for “recreational racism” during his presidency, local outlets reported.
The ruling, issued by the Third Panel of the Federal Regional Court of the Fourth Region (TRF4), reportedly determined that Bolsonaro must pay the fine to the Brazilian state for collective moral damages caused by “public statements of prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance against black people.”
According to the court, Bolsonaro incurred alleged moral damages through comments referring to the afro hairstyle — a hairstyle reportedly known in Brazil as “black power.” Brazilian Judge Rogério Favreto, the case’s rapporteur, reportedly argued that Bolsonaro engaged in acts of “recreational racism” through the use of humor to cover up the “racist” nature of statements issued in 2021.
One of the incidents cited in the case, according to the Brazilian outlet Poder 360, took place outside the Alvorada Presidential Palace in May 2021, when a Bolsonaro supporter sporting an afro hairstyle approached then-President Bolsonaro to take a photo with him. At the time, Bolsonaro allegedly said that he “saw a cockroach” in the man’s hair. Months later, in July 2021, Bolsonaro invited the same supporter to a live stream, where they both treated the incident as a joke.
The civil lawsuit was filed in the state of Rio Grande do Sul by public prosecutors and the Public Defender’s Office, who argued that the statements were “discriminatory and offensive to the black population.” Poder 360 reported that the Bolsonaro supporter stated afterwards that “the president was close enough to joke around” and that he was not a “victimized black man.”
“Racial offense disguised as a joke, or simple banter, which relates black power hair to repulsive insects — in this case, cockroaches — and dirt, attacks the honor and dignity of black people and reinforces the stigma of inferiority of this population,” Judge Favreto reportedly wrote in the ruling.
“This is behavior that has its origins in slavery, perpetuating the process of dehumanization of enslaved people, put into practice to justify the objectification of human beings and their commercialization as merchandise,” he continued.
According to Favreto, Bolsonaro’s statements should be classified as “an act of recreational racism, which seeks to promote the reproduction of asymmetrical relations between racial groups through cultural policy based on the use of humor as an expression of racial hostility.”
The outlet Metrópoles explained that Tuesday’s ruling overturns a previous sentence issued in 2023 by Judge Ana Maria Wickert, who dismissed demands that Bolsonaro pay a larger “moral damages” fine for the same “racist” remarks.
Metrópoles identified the Bolsonaro supporter as Maicon Sulivan, a staunch supporter of the former President who reportedly describes himself as “Bolsonaro’s Black Power.” Metrópoles published several pictures of Sulivan accompanying Bolsonaro on different occasions in 2021.
The court also argued that the fact that the Bolsonaro supporter “downplayed” the comments and defended the former President “does not reduce the collective moral damage” Bolsonaro allegedly caused.
“Do you want to use me to condemn Bolsonaro for racism? It’s not going to happen, give it up,” Sulivan said in social media post on Tuesday. “The defense team for Jair Bolsonaro can count on me until he is acquitted again!”
“Would that also be ‘recreational’ justice? Convicted for a review, joking, playing around with a friend … Only in Brazil,” he said in a separate post. “I will take measures, because they are using me to pursue Bolsonaro in a process in which he had already been acquitted. This is shameful, unfair, and pathetic.”
Jair Bolsonaro, 70, was convicted and sentenced last week by the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) to 27 years and three months in prison on dubious “crimes against democracy” charges for his alleged role in a “coup” plot that, the top court claimed, sought to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election. Bolsonaro narrowly lost that election against current radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. At press time, the STF has not determined in which Brazilian prison Bolsonaro will serve out the sentence.
On Sunday morning, Bolsonaro was admitted to the DF Star Hospital and underwent the surgical removal of eight skin lesions on his body as well as medical tests; the former president was discharged hours later and returned to his residence in Brasília, where he is serving a house arrest at since August by order of STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Bolsonaro’s chief medical officer, Dr. Cláudio Birolini, explained on Sunday afternoon that Bolsonaro’s health is “fragile,” with tests revealing that he suffers from iron deficiency (anemia) and pneumonia, in addition to other conditions such as high blood pressure and gastroesophageal reflux.
Bolsonaro was urgently hospitalized at the DF Star Hospital on Tuesday afternoon after he suffered a drop in blood pressure, hiccups, vomiting, and complained of severe pain. Three Brazilian Criminal Police vehicles and one helicopter reportedly accompanied the vehicle carrying Bolsonaro to the hospital.
Bolsonaro’s wife, former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, reportedly said in a Wednesday morning social media post that the former president arrived at the hospital’s emergency room “dehydrated and with an elevated heart rate.”
Laboratory and imaging tests, the former first lady explained, showed “persistent anemia and impaired kidney function, with elevated creatinine levels.” She detailed that Bolsonaro also underwent an MRI scan of his skull to investigate recurring episodes of dizziness, but the test did not reveal any acute changes. Michelle Bolsonaro further detailed that Jair Bolsonaro showed partial improvement after hydration and medication, and said, “He will be reevaluated throughout the day to determine whether he needs to remain in the hospital.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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