Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been charged on Monday with moral damages against Workers' Party (PT) legislator Maria do Rosario after a local judge ruled that the far-right leader committed gender aggression with a controversial insult made against the lawmaker in 2014.
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In 2003, Bolsonaro was recorded on television cameras saying that "he would not rape her because she does not deserve it." A comment that was repeated on December 9, 2014, in a session of Congress, later trying to “justify” himself by declaring that he meant that "she does not deserve to be raped because she is very bad and very ugly.”
After an ongoing legal battle, the Brazilian legislator won a civil ruling decreed by a judge of the 18th Civil Court of Brasilia, the country’s capital. Now the internationally dubbed “Trump of the Tropics”, due to similarities with his North American counterpart, will have 15 days to pay around US$2,500 and retract publicly through a means of communication of national circulation.
"I share this victory with all women who suffer humiliations and violence ... This is a victory of respect, of dignity," the affected PT lawmaker said on Twitter, adding that the compensation that will be paid will be donated to institutions that act in defense of women’s rights.
Currently, there is an open criminal complaint against Bolsonaro on the same issue, that is being processed before the Federal Supreme Court (STF), as well as another judicial process in the Public Ministry.
The Brazilian head of state has openly supported his homophobic, racist and misogynistic stance. In 2015, Bolsonaro argued "women should earn less because they get pregnant. When she returns [from maternity leave], she will have another month's vacation, meaning she worked five months that year."
These remarks are dangerous in a country that continues to reveal alarming figures for violence against women. According to non-government organization Forum Brasileño de Seguridad Publica, 25 women are mistreated every hour in Brazil, 606 per day and 221,238 per year. While rape against women, on the other hand, grew by 8.4 percent and reached 60,018 cases in 2017.