Carla Zambelli is fined by TSE for spreading lies in the last election

O Superior Electoral Court (TSE) punished federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) for having disseminated content with false information regarding the results of last year’s elections. The agency demands payment of R$30,000 from Zambelli because of a video in which she stated that the electronic ballot boxes would be manipulated in a union that would have a kind of connection with the current Lula government and the acronym to which he allies himself, the Workers’ Party (PT).

The alleged video was released on the internet in September last year and obviously caused chaos during the election campaign. Minister Benedito Gonçalves commented on the situation, which for him was completely based on bad faith, because even after the note from the Regional Electoral Court of São Paulo clarified that such information was not true, the deputy continued to disseminate it.

The minister justified his vote in the decision to sentence Carla to “the gravity of the unfounded accusations against the fairness of the electoral process without any support in the facts”. In other words, he claims that such information is totally disconnected from reality, and their release could affect (which in fact happened since it inflamed both Bolsonaro and Lula voters too much) the integrity of the elections in the country. The action against Zambelli came from the association connected to Lula.

The TSE unanimously fined federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) by R$ 30,000 on Thursday (25) for having released a video, in September 2022, which allegedly suggests that electronic voting machines were being manipulated. #CNNNewDay pic.twitter.com/jtdCuePz34

— CNN Brasil (@CNNBrasil) May 26, 2023

That same year, an order was issued by the rapporteur, Minister Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino, removing the audiovisual material from the main platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Kwai.

Lawyer Thiago Rocha Domingues, who is in charge of Zambelli’s defense, declared that there was no inconsistency in the deputy’s conduct. “There was no sharing of false or out of context news at the point” and added “we defend that there was no illegality. There was only information that, due to the viralization of the video, the deputy asked for information to find out if there could be any illegality or not”concluded Thiago.

Carla Zambelli is currently in intensive care in the intensive care unit, receiving treatment for Covid-19. She was diagnosed with a more serious condition as she had not received the vaccination. At the same time, it faces problems with the Liberal Party (PL). According to information released by journalist Andréia Sadi, the PL and Bolsonaro moved away from the deputy, who may lose her mandate. The president was unable to move on after the episode of Carla with a gun running after a man in the middle of São Paulo. At the time, the situation shocked the country and played an important role in Bolsonaro’s defeat.

Featured photo: Deputy Carla Zambelli. Playback/Twitter