Brazil Charges Journalist Glenn Greenwald over Leaked Phone Messages

HAVANA TIMES – Federal prosecutors in Brazil on Tuesday charged US journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes, accusing him of belonging to a criminal organization that hacked into cellphones of public officials, website G1 and other media reported, said dpa news.

The investigative website The Intercept Brasil, which Greenwald co-founded, last year published cellphone messages allegedly exchanged by then judge Sergio Moro and prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, which gave the impression that they cooperated to jail former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lula was jailed on corruption charges in April 2018, opening the way for the election victory of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, in whose government Moro is now serving as justice minister.

Lula was released in November, while Moro has denied wrongdoing.

A Supreme Court judge has issued an order barring federal police from investigating Greenwald’s role in the affair, but federal prosecutors argued that he had gone further than just receiving messages, and that he had instructed hackers to delete archives to cover their tracks.

The prosecutors brought charges against Greenwald and six other people. In a statement, the journalist’s lawyers called the charges an attempt to “devalue the journalistic work” of the Intercept Brasil team.

“We shall not be intimidated by the abuse of the state apparatus or by the Bolsonaro government,” Greenwald, who is married to a Brazilian, said on Twitter.

Greenwald is also known for his role in the release of classified national security documents leaked by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

Snowden called the charges against Greenwald “unbelievable, unsupported, and indefensible.”