The Brazilian Supereme Court has ordered the release of journalist William Ferreira, who has been imprisoned for 11 months without charges or trial, after he was rushed to the Astir Hospital Jan. 18. The President of the Rondônia bar association Human Rights Commission had called Ferreira’s imprisonment “illegal”.
Journalist William Ferreira da Silva, 59, had been held at the Military Police Correction Center – Special Prison Unit in Porto Velho, Brazil, since February 3, 2023 for the crime of journalism on January 8 in Brasilia.
According to Rondoniaovivo, the Brazilian Supreme Court yesterday granted provisional release to William Ferreira da Silva. Gazeta do Povo reported Brazil’s dictatorial Supreme Court justice Alexander de Moraes signed the release papers Tuesday, Jan. 23, stating his lawyer Hélio Junior had confirmed the report.
William is still hospitalized in the Tiradentes Association of the Military Police in Porto Velho, where he has been for a week after suffering a medical emergency, Rondoniaovivo reports. He is believed to have prostate cancer and a lung edema, Gazeta do Povo reports.
William will presumably be required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and suffer restrictive measures when he is released.
Ferreira was in the capital of Brasilia on January 8, 2023, visiting the Army Club with his family, when he heard of the protests outside the Brazilian Three Powers square, where protestors entered the Parliament, Presidential Palace and Suprfeme Court buildings. He asked his wife Naiane to give a him ride to the site of the demonstrations to cover the events as a journalist.
Less than a month later, at his home, he was arrested at home by the Federal Police and has been in prison since then. The government has also seized his bank account without justification.
“On Sunday, January 8, we left the house of my husband’s daughter, Wila, a little after 10 a.m. and went to the Army Club, which is on Lake Paranoá. Around 2 p.m., we noticed a helicopter flying overhead and hear explosions. My husband went to the pool with Maitê, our daughter, and there he began to have a view of the Senate and was curious to know what was happening at the seat of government. He is a reporter, so he asked me to take him. We went by car and left him on a street in front of the Federal Supreme Court (STF),” Naiane Portugal said.
“William’s situation is serious, because there are other cases of cancer in the family. His brother, José Roberto Soares da Silva, died on October 29, 2023 of cancer. This makes the result of William’s MRI exam, done at the end of the year, alarming. He may die due to lack of medical treatment, which he will not get in prison. The chance of him having a prostate neoplasm is very high,” his lawyer Hélio Júnior had warned.
William has been a member of the Military Police reserves since 2012, while working as a journalist and on social media. He had 130,000 followers on Facebook, plus Instagram and YouTube.
The president of the Human Rights Commission of the Rondônia bar association, Dr. Luiz Carlos Teodoro, called Ferreira’s 11-month imprisonment illegal: “As a military reservist, William Ferreira has dedicated his life as a journalist to the most needy. In February, it will be a year he has been held in pre-trial detention, more than enough time to prepare any charges, but the investigation is not moving. Article 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure says that if the requirements of preventive detention are absent, the person must be released. That’s the case for William. There are no charges against him,” Dr. Teodoro said.
Last year, Gateway Pundit and its readers helped secure the release of indigenous Chief and Pastor Sererê Xavante, as the only international medium that covered his case. None of the so-called international “human rights” groups care about the fate of Chief Sererê and the Brazilian opposition.
This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit
