The trial began in 2022, when a judge opened an investigation into the words used by the former champion in an interview. Nelson had apologized, claiming he had been misinterpreted
March 25, 2023
Racism and homophobia: this is how the offenses of Nelson Piquet to Lewis Hamilton during an interview given in 2021 to the YouTube channel Enerto. This was sanctioned by the sentence issued in Brazil yesterday by the twentieth Civil Court of Brasilia after the lawsuit brought against the former king of F1 by four associations attentive to LGBT+ rights. To the ace of Brabham and Williams was fined 5 million Brazilian reais, the equivalent of €800,000. A lower sum than the prosecution’s request, but still high.
background
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It all dates back to November 2021. Piquet lashed out at Hamilton accusing him of having voluntarily ousted rival Max Verstappen in that year’s British GP and calling him “the Ne***ect”. A squalor to which was added the homophobic comment used as an explanation in the face of Hamilton’s defeat against Rosberg in 2016. These releases went viral in June 2022, prompting three MPs to ask for action against the three-time world champion. They were joined by Educafro, Centro Santo Dias, Aliança Nacional LGBTI+ and the Asociación Brasileña de Familias Homotransafectivas, four associations committed to the fight against discrimination. The judiciary began investigating from July 2022.
motivation
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The sentence has a symbolic value. The judge reiterated it Pedro Matos de Arrud, explaining how the amount of compensation was given “to appreciate the restorative function of civil liability, but also the punitive one. With the hope that society can one day be free from the pernicious acts that are racism and homophobia”. Of the same opinion Marlon Reisa lawyer who represented the four human rights associations: “Nelson Piquet has not only offended Lewis Hamilton, but the conscience of the entire Brazilian people engaged in a permanent struggle for the affirmation of equality as a fundamental rule of coexistence”.
March 25, 2023 – 1:07 pm
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