Mr. Greenwald
is accused of being part of a “criminal
organization” that hacked into the
cellphones of prosecutors and public
officials.
By Ernesto Londoño
January 21,
2020 "Information
Clearing House" - RIO DE JANEIRO
— Federal prosecutors in Brazil on Tuesday
charged the American journalist
Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes for his
role in the spreading of cellphone messages
that have embarrassed prosecutors and
tarnished the image of an anti-corruption
task force.
In a criminal
complaint made public on Tuesday,
prosecutors in the capital, Brasília,
accused Mr. Greenwald of being part of a
“criminal organization” that hacked into the
cellphones of several prosecutors and other
public officials last year.
Mr.
Greenwald, an
ardent critic of Brazil’s far right
president, Jair Bolsonaro, is a deeply
polarizing figure in Brazil’s bitter
political divide. This perception was fueled
when the organization he co-founded, The
Intercept Brasil, published articles last
year based on the leaked cellphone messages
that
raised questions about the integrity and
the motives of key members of Brazil’s
justice system.
The articles
cast doubt on the impartiality of a former
judge, Sérgio Moro, and of some of the
prosecutors who worked on a corruption
investigation that landed several powerful
political and business figures in prison.
Among them was a former president, a popular
leftist whose conviction paved the way for
Brazil’s radical rightward shift and the
election of Mr. Bolsonaro. Mr. Moro is
now Mr. Bolsonaro’s minister of justice.