A Brazilian law intern has been sentenced by a Federal judge for discrimination and inciting prejudice through Twitter.
Mayara Petruso of Sao Paulo was convicted Wednesday for a tweet she posted in 2010 that encouraged residents of Sao Paulo to attempt violence against their countrymen. Upset at the 2010 election of president Dilma Rousseff, Petruso blamed the northeastern part of the country, which Rousseff carried.
“Northeastern is not us. Do a favor to SP: kill a northeasterner!” the offending tweet read.
Petruso has since deleted her Twitter account.
The tweet prompted a flurry of controversy, in part because it illustrated a rift between the left-leaning, poorer northeast, where far more black and mixed-race Brazilians live, and the wealthier, whiter, more conservative south.
Petruso reportedly took similar content to Facebook, posting that northeasterners want to “sink the country who worked to support the bums.”
Though Petruso was initially sentenced to 17 months in prison, the judge reduced her sentence to community service and a small fine.
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