By MARCELO AITH*
There is no doubt that Pablo Marçal's campaign aimed to inflict electoral harm on candidate Guilherme Boulos by releasing the false document.
As a kind of anything goes to try to reach the second round of the Elections in the city of São Paulo, candidate Pablo Marçal and his team posted a forged document on social media last night, Friday (4/10), describing a medical consultation in which his opponent Guilherme Boulos was “in a serious psychotic episode, in persecutory delirium and homicidal ideas” and linked the fact to cocaine use.
Pablo Marçal's campaign crossed all moral, ethical, legal and political boundaries by using a formally and materially false document, which cunningly indicates that Guilherme Boulos had been hospitalized for cocaine use. "Coming from the sewers of the most sordid things on the internet, Pablo Henrique da Costa Marçal brought to the São Paulo electoral process the materialization of the irresponsible and criminal practices that are the hallmark of his private life", says the criminal complaint against Guilherme Boulos.
According to the media, the fake report was signed by doctor Jose Roberto de Souza. A query to the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) shows that the doctor, who was an orthopedist, has already died. Guilherme Boulos' ID number that appears in the medical records is incorrect, with an extra number. Most seriously, the signature attributed to the doctor differs from the one that appears in a court document. The owner of the clinic, Luiz Teixeira da Silva Junior, has already been convicted of falsifying a medical degree.
If what the press has unanimously reported is confirmed, Pablo Marçal has committed a crime under Article 304 of the Brazilian Penal Code. The article states that “using any of the falsified or altered documents referred to in Articles 297 to 302” subjects the perpetrator to the same penalties as for falsification or alteration. This means that the penalty for using a false document is equivalent to that for falsifying the document itself, that is, a prison sentence of one to five years and a fine.
However, for the crime to be established, the agent must be aware that the document is false and have the will to use it as if it were genuine. Everything indicates, considering the history during the campaign, that Pablo Marçal would have been aware that the report he presented was false.
An important point to highlight, despite the criminal type, for its confrontation, which requires that the use of the document actually causes harm, it is necessary that the author has intent, that is, the intention of obtaining some undue advantage or causing harm is an element that is generally present.
There is no doubt that Pablo Marçal's campaign aimed to inflict electoral damage on candidate Guilherme Boulos by releasing the false document. Especially after Guilherme Boulos presented a toxicology test in the debate held on Thursday (3/10), denying Pablo Marçal's insinuations that he was a cocaine user. Pablo Marçal did not want to be labeled a habitual liar once again and used a document that, by all indications, is both formally and materially false.
Even Pastor Silas Malafaia, one of the greatest representatives of Brazilian conservatism, said on social media that “this criminal must be arrested.” And he continued: “The psychopath Pablo Marçal forging documents against Guilherme Boulos to say that he is a drug addict. Unacceptable! Just because Guilherme Boulos is our political enemy doesn’t mean we’re going to accept a farce like this.”
However, Pablo Marçal apparently thinks differently about dealing with political “enemies,” coming very close to what Polemarchus, in a dialogue with Socrates, stated that doing justice is benefiting friends. Socrates, not agreeing with Polemarchus’ understanding, questions him: “But what about enemies? Should we give them everything they are due?” Polemarchus replied: “It is indisputable,” he replied [in a slightly irritated tone], “in my opinion, what enemies owe each other is properly and exactly an evil… something harmful.”
Anything goes to achieve electoral goals, including using criminal means to harm your political opponent? Apparently, this is Pablo Marçal's idea: to target his enemies with anything that could cause him harm. Is this moral, ethical and especially Christian? Is this what we want for the largest city in Latin America? What would he be capable of doing to stay in power? Let's hope that the people of São Paulo are careful and aware when voting.
*Marcelo Aith is a criminal lawyer with a master's degree in criminal law from PUC-SP.
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