President Ordered to Pay Damages to Journalist

A Brazilian judge has ordered that country’s leader to compensate a journalist, saying that comments made by President Jair Bolsonaro had “damaged the honor of the complainant, causing moral damage,” AFP reports. The March 16 decision calls for Bolsonaro to pay Patricia Campos Mello, a reporter for newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, 20,000 reais, which amounts to $3,473, per CNN. Campos Mello brought legal action against Bolsonaro for comments he made last February, according to the BBC, claiming that the president was using sexual innuendo when he said that she “wanted a scoop” at “any price against me.”

The ruling, Campos Mello tweeted, is a “victory for all of us women,” per CNN. And the group Journalists Against Harassment called it a “great day for women journalists. Great day for professional journalism.” Earlier this year, Campos Mello won a similar judgment against Bolsonaro’s son, who reportedly claimed that she “tried to seduce” sources to get damaging information about his father. Bolsonaro can appeal the ruling, AFP reports. (More Jair Bolsonaro stories.)