Brazil’s Supreme Court has agreed to investigate whether former President Jair Bolsonaro incited the far-right mob that ransacked the country’s Congress
Posted Date – 11:03 PM, Sat – 1/14/23
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Rio de Janeiro: Brazil’s Supreme Court has agreed to investigate whether former President Jair Bolsonaro incited a far-right mob to loot the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential office, a rapid escalation that suggests the ex-president may face extremist movements The legal ramifications he helped create.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted a request by the prosecutor general’s office to include Bolsonaro in a broader investigation, citing a video the former president posted on Facebook two days after the unrest . It claims that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not voted for, but was chosen by the Supreme Court and Brazil’s electoral body.
Although Bolsonaro posted the video after the unrest and deleted it in the morning, prosecutors argued its content was sufficient to justify a prior investigation of his actions.
Otherwise, Bolsonaro has not commented on the election since his defeat on October 30. He repeatedly questioned the reliability of the electronic voting system ahead of the vote and then demanded that the millions of ballots cast using the machine be abolished, but never backed down.
None of the former president’s claims have been substantiated, and the election results have been recognized as legitimate by various politicians, including some Bolsonaro allies and several foreign governments.
He has been living in the Orlando suburbs since he left Brazil in late December and skipped the Jan. 1 swearing-in of his leftist successor, and some Democratic lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to cancel his visa.
Following the judicial decision late Friday, Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Frederick Wassev, said in a statement that the former president “strongly opposed acts of vandalism and vandalism” starting on January 8. , but blamed so-called “infiltrators” at the protests – something his far-right supporters also claimed.
The statement also said Bolsonaro “has never had any relationship or involvement” with these spontaneous social movements.
Brazilian authorities are investigating who allowed Bolsonaro’s radical supporters to storm seats of power in an attempt to overturn the results of October’s election. Targets include those who called rioters to the capital or paid to transport them, as well as local security personnel who may have stood by and allowed chaos to occur.
So far, most of the attention has been on Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, Anderson Torres, who became head of security for the federal district on Jan. 2 and was in the U.S. on the day of the unrest.
De Morais this week ordered Torres’ arrest and an investigation into his actions, which he described as “negligence and collusion.” In his decision released Friday, De Morais said Torres fired his subordinates and left the country before the unrest, suggesting he deliberately set the stage for the unrest.
The court also issued an arrest warrant for the former security chief, who must return within three days or Brazil will demand his extradition, Justice Minister Flávio Dino said on Friday.
Torres has denied wrongdoing and said on Twitter on Jan. 10 that he would break off his vacation to return to Brazil to defend himself. Three days later, this still hasn’t happened.
The minister pointed to a document discovered by Brazil’s federal police during a search of Torres’ home; a draft decree that could control voting rights in Brazil and potentially overturn the election. The origin and authenticity of the unsigned document are unclear, according to analysts and the Brazilian Academy of Electoral and Political Law, and it remains unclear whether Bolsonaro or his subordinates took any steps to implement the potentially unconstitutional measure. And know.
But the document “will be featured in the police investigation as it more fully reveals the existence of a range of individuals responsible for the criminal incident,” Dino said, adding that Torres would need to notify the police that drafted the document.
Mario Sérgio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors, said Torres could be charged with negligence for failing to launch an investigation into the document’s author or report its existence.
Torres said on Twitter that the document was likely found in a stack of documents, along with others that were meant to be destroyed, and that it was leaked out of context, providing a false narrative designed to discredit him.
Dino told reporters on Friday morning that no link had been established between the unrest in the capital and Bolsonaro.
Also on Friday night, Brazil suspended the popular social media accounts of several prominent right-wing figures in response to a court order, which was obtained by journalist Glenn Greenwald and detailed in a live social media broadcast.
The order, also issued by Justice de Moraes, targets six social media platforms and imposes a two-hour deadline to block accounts or face fines. The accounts belong to a digital influencer, a YouTuber recently elected federal lawmaker, a podcast host in the mold of Joe Rogan, and an evangelical pastor and senator-elect, among others.
