1/6 Military Justice, Journalism and Free Speech in Brazil verfassungsblog.de/military-justice-journalism-and-free-speech-in-brazil/ Ulisses Levy Silvério dos Reis Rafael Lamera Giesta Cabral 23 Juni 2021 The Brazilian government has taken another step in its process towards autocracy. On 17 June, 2021, through a manifestation presented in a lawsuit before the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (hereinafter, STF – Supremo Tribunal Federal) questioning the investigations by authorities against journalists who criticised the Armed Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force), the Attorney-General of the Union (hereinafter, AGU – Advocacia- Geral da União) affirmed that, in the government’s view, the Military Justice has competence to try civilians accused of criminal offences against the honor of the military institutions. In short, the AGU proposed that crimes regarding the freedom of speech should not have to be assigned to the ordinary justice system, composed of civilian judges, but to a specialized branch of the judiciary formed mainly by members of the Armed Forces itself. The Military Justice is a legal heritage which has remained untouched even after the 1985-1988 redemocratization. It is compounded by collegiate bodies with more military members – who do not necessarily have juridical training – than civilians. The trial courts, called „Special Audit“ (Auditoria Especial), have two chambers named Special Council of Justice (Conselho Especial de Justiça) and the Permanent Council of Justice (Conselho Permanente de Justiça). Both have one civilian and four military judges, as determined by article 16 of the Law no. 8.457/1992. By the same token, the Superior Military Tribunal (hereinafter, STM – Superior Tribunal Militar), the appellate court of Military Justice, has 15 Justices. Five members of this bench are civilians and the other ten are military, according to article 123 of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution. The Military Justice only tries criminal matters. This post will show how the strategy of the AGU aligns with the military autocratization agenda of Bolsonaro’s government instead of representing the interests of the Brazilian state. This is apparent as the manifestation is in violation of the 1988 Constitution and the human rights treaty-norms ratified by Brazil. The attacks on free speech by the government through the AGU’s manifestation is another sign of the local democratic constitutional erosion process. Defending the role of the media and journalists from possible harassments by Military Justice is another challenge assigned to the STF. The battle over free speech in Brazil and the government’s strategy against journalists It is well known that Brazil recently was pointed out as one of the worst countries in the world to be a journalist and arbitrary lawsuits performed or encouraged by Bolsonaro are called a „national sport“. After two and a half years of the President’s term, it is possible to