inciting riots
Brazil’s judiciary is investigating ex-President Bolsonaro
01/14/2023 02:03 am
Did election loser Jair Bolsonaro incite the riots in the Brazilian capital? Yes, suspects the Attorney General’s Office and requests investigations against the ex-president. The Supreme Court agrees to the request.
After the violent storming of the presidential palace in Brasília, ex-President Jair Bolsonaro is now under investigation. A judge from Brazil’s Supreme Court on Friday (local time) granted the Attorney General’s request to put the far-right politician on a list of people to be investigated for the January 8 violence. The Attorney General accuses him of “incitement and intellectual authorship”.
“Public figures who continue to cowardly conspire against democracy and attempt to create a state of emergency will be held accountable,” Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said, agreeing to the federal prosecutor’s request to open the investigation.
With the publication of a video that “questions the legality of the 2022 presidential elections,” the right-wing extremist “publicly incited to commit a crime,” the Attorney General’s Office said. The video was released two days after Bolsonaro supporters violently stormed the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court and was later deleted.
Evidence despite later publication
The attorney general’s office said the video, although taken after the riots, can serve as “conclusive evidence” warranting “a global investigation into the defendant’s actions before and after January 8, 2023.”
On Sunday, hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters in the capital broke into the congress building, the presidential palace and the seat of the Supreme Court, causing hours of havoc there. Her anger was vented at the election victory of left-wing politician Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff and has been in office since the beginning of the year.
The protesters do not recognize Lula’s election victory. Bolsonaro himself did not do this either and left for the USA before the transfer of office. It was announced on Thursday that a document containing plans to “correct” the election results was found in the home of Bolsonaro confidant and former Attorney General Anderson Torres. Torres is also in the United States.