American journalist says he will continue to fight for press freedom in Brazil

Glenn Greenwald, award-winning American investigative journalist and co founder of Intercept promised to keep fighting against assaults on press freedom by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. 

Greenwald welcomed a Brazilian judge’s decision Thursday to reject cybercrime charges that federal prosecutors brought against him last month. 

Greenwald lives in Rio de Janeiro with his husband, Brazilian Congressman David Miranda, and their two children. Their family has faced mounting threats from Bolsonaro’s “vitriolic anti-LGBTQ+” and “authoritarian, dictatorship-supporting movement,” culminating in the cybercrime charges. 

He tweeted videos in both English and Portuguese saying “It’s obviously good news, but not good enough for us,” Greenwald explained. “Our lawyers are now going to go to the Brazilian Supreme Court and seek a much broader ruling.”

“We don’t just want to win on procedural grounds; we want a clear ruling from the Supreme Court that any attempt to criminalize my journalism or my relationship with my sources is a grave assault on core press freedoms guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution,” Greenwald added. 

Human rights and press freedom groups called the charges “a straightforward attempt to intimidate and retaliate against Greenwald and The Intercept for their critical reporting” on key government officials.