Wednesday October 27, 2021
Serious crime charges
The committee recommends the prosecution of Bolsonaro
For six months, a committee of inquiry sheds light on the Brazilian government’s corona policy. In their final report, the parliamentarians recommend that President Bolsonaro be brought to justice. But he’s not the only one who is supposed to take a seat in the dock.
A parliamentary committee of inquiry into the Brazilian government’s corona policy has attributed some serious crimes to President Jair Bolsonaro and recommended an indictment. After six months of work, the committee passed Senator Renan Calheiros’ final report on Tuesday by seven to four votes. According to this, Bolsonaro is held responsible for at least nine crimes – from deceiving the public to inciting criminal offenses to crimes against humanity.
According to the 1289-page report, 79 other people are to be called to account in addition to Bolsonaro, including three sons of the president, other politicians and business people and two companies. It is still unclear what consequences the report will have and whether the recommendations will also lead to indictments.
As a first step, members of the committee of inquiry want to hand over the report to Attorney General Augusto Aras, who was appointed by Bolsonaro and who has often patronized the president in the past. It is feared that six months of work could fizzle out. The committee of inquiry began its work at the height of an out-of-control corona pandemic in April.
The Brazilians sometimes followed the committee like a television soap opera. Even if they didn’t always learn anything new, the extent of what they already knew became clear. Most recently, the largest country in Latin America exceeded the mark of 600,000 corona deaths. The approval of Bolsonaro’s administration has continued to decline in the course of the corona pandemic.