CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST JOURNALIST

Brazilian federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged American journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes over his role in the publication of articles based on leaked cell phone messages from Brazilian government officials.

The New York Times reported that prosecutors accused Greenwald, who is the co-founding editor of The Intercept, as being a member of a “criminal organization” that hacked into phones of Brazilian officials last year.

The charges were brought against Greenwald months after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro warned that Greenwald would “do jail time in Brazil” following the publication of private phone conversations involving Brazilian Justice Minister Sergio Moro.

In a statement Tuesday, Greenwald strongly pushed back against the charges.

“Less than two months ago, after examining the same evidence cited today by Brazil’s Public Ministry, the Federal Police stated that not only have I never committed any crimes in my contacts with our source, but also that I exercised extreme caution as a journalist,” Greenwald said.

He added that the new accusation “is an obvious attempt to attack a free press in retaliation for the revelations we reported about Minister Moro and the Bolsanaro government.”

These phone conversations were published as part of a series by The Intercept, with the stories raising concerns about corruption within the Brazilian government, including the possibility that Moro had worked to shield Bolensaro’s son, federal Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, from an anti-corruption investigation.