Brazil Accuses Glenn Greenwald of Cybercrimes

"The reporting will continue." So tweeted American journalist Glenn Greenwald on Tuesday as federal prosecutors in Brazil accused him of cybercrimes. They allege he "helped, encouraged, and guided" phone hackers who accessed messages sent between prosecutors and other officials who were involved in a corruption investigation, reports the Guardian. The BBC reports the charges have just been proposed by prosecutors; whether to indict him is up to a judge. The New York Times reports Greenwald moved to Brazil in 2005, had a major role in publishing classified documents obtained from Edward Snowden in 2013, and co-founded the Intercept Brasil in 2016. Last June it published the first of 10 investigative reports that quote from messages sent via an app called Telegram.

The conversations allegedly showed that then-judge Sérgio Moro was improperly coordinating with prosecutors as he oversaw the corruption investigation, reports the AP. The probe led to the imprisonment of former President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva on corruption charges. While many Brazilians hail Moro as a hero, others believe he unfairly targeted da Silva and other top leftist figures. Moro is far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister. Prosecutors say Greenwald wasn't just on the receiving end of the messages but played a "clear role in facilitating the commission of a crime," for instance, allegedly instructing the hackers to delete archives once they had been shared to eliminate evidence. Greenwald's attorneys called the allegations "bizarre" in a statement. (More Glenn Greenwald stories.)