A federal judge in Brasilia has dismissed an indictment by domestic investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald. Greenwald had been accused of hacking cell phones from government officials. According to various media, the judge based his decision on a Supreme Court ruling last year. It had forbidden to investigate how Greenwald obtained information that the disclosure platform he founded, The Intercept Brasil, had published.
Greenwald and six others are accused of hacking the cell phones of, among others, Justice Minister Sergio Moro and Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, who leads the “lava jato” (car wash) campaign against corruption. Their chat messages gave the impression that the judge and the public prosecutor’s office had illegally colluded during the investigation against former left president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The investigation ended in a prison sentence for Lula, who had conducted the polls. This cleared the way for right-wing politician Jair Bolsonaro to win the 2018 presidential election in Brazil. Greenwald, who is married to a Brazilian, said it was not enough for him that he would not be indicted for the time being. In videos on social networks, he announced that his lawyers would even go to the Supreme Court. The charges against the six other people were admitted.
