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 vandals running over institutional headquarters on Sunday in Brasilia. The media in that country syndicate those who identify the protesters with the former president.
Source: Efe
The judicial siege tightens on Bolsonaro, who is currently in the United States and suspected of inciting his supporters to invade and vandalize the Houses of Parliament, the Presidency and the Supreme on January 8.
On the afternoon of this Friday, the Public Ministry requested permission from the Supreme Court to investigate the 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: un video shared by Bolsonaro on his social networks on January 10, two days after the assault on the three powersin 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 “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 before “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.
About the coup assault, 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.
