Brasilia, Jan 13 (EFE).– At the request of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court included former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on the list of those investigated for the attempted coup committed by his most radical supporters on Sunday in Brasilia.
The judicial siege tightens on the ex-president, who is currently in the United States and who is suspected of inciting his supporters to invade and destroy the headquarters of Parliament, the Presidency and the Supreme Court on January 8.
On the afternoon of this Friday, the Public Ministry asked the Supreme Court for permission to investigate the far-right leader for his alleged participation as the mastermind of the violent assault and, just a few hours later, the high court complied with the request.
The endorsement was given by magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, one of the eleven Supreme Court judges, current president of the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and the object of serious attacks for months by Bolsonaro and his allies.
De Moraes accepted the main argument of the Prosecutor’s Office: a video shared by Bolsonaro on his social networks on January 10, two days after the assault on the three powers, in which doubts are sown about the result of the October elections and the legitimacy of the institutions.
The retired Army captain, who still does not openly acknowledge his defeat at the polls, deleted that video hours later, when it was already circulating like wildfire among his acolytes.
With this, the Public Ministry believes that “he publicly incited the practice of crime.”
For De Moraes, with the disclosure of the video, Bolsonaro, a priori, “positioned himself once again” in a “criminal way against the institutions”, especially against the Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE), “accusing their judges fraud in the elections to favor» Lula.
The magistrate also indicated that he will study “at the right time” a possible interrogation of Bolsonaro given “the news that he is not in Brazilian territory.”
The former head of state traveled to Orlando, Florida, on December 30, two days before the end of his term, for reasons never explained, although he recently told CNN Brazil that he would return at the end of this month.
Regarding the coup attack, he barely spoke in some tweets on the 8th to reject it in a lukewarm manner and deny the accusations made by Lula, who blamed his predecessor for “stimulating” his followers.
Throughout the past electoral campaign, Bolsonaro accused the judicial leadership of acting in favor of Lula and led a fierce campaign against the electoral system based on false allegations of fraud.
The left defends that this behavior, together with his silence after losing the elections, fueled the anger of the Bolsonaristas, who until last week were camped out at the door of the barracks asking for a coup against the progressive leader.
Not being listened to by the Armed Forces, thousands of them tried on Sunday sowing chaos for four hours in Brasilia.
OTHER ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS
Bolsonaro, a nostalgic defender of the right-wing military dictatorships and who lost his immunity on the 1st, is also being investigated in four other criminal proceedings opened in the Supreme Court, but all of them are in the initial phase.
One of them seeks to clarify whether he interfered politically and illegally in the decisions of the Federal Police to protect his family.
He is also being investigated for disclosing false news about the covid-19 vaccine, which he associated with the risk of developing AIDS, and for disclosing secret police documents with which he wanted to inflame his campaign against the electoral process.
It is also in the focus of Justice in another case that investigates the existence of “digital militias”, linked to extreme right-wing groups, which seek to overthrow the democratic order.
PRISON FOR HIS FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER
Another of those investigated for the violent acts last Sunday is the former Security Secretary of Brasilia Anderson Torres, who was Bolsonaro’s Minister of Justice.
On Torres, a faithful ally of Bolsonaro who participated in this campaign to discredit the electoral system, there is a prison order from the Supreme Court for his alleged “omission” in the assault on Brasilia.
In addition, the Police found in the former minister’s house a draft of a presidential decree to intervene in the Superior Electoral Tribunal and “correct” the result of the presidential elections, which Bolsonaro lost to Lula by a difference of 1.8 points.
Torres, like Bolsonaro, is in the United States, although he has stated that he will return to Brazil in the coming days to turn himself in to the authorities. EFE
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