RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazil’s prosecutor-general’s office on Friday asked the Supreme Court to include former President Jair Bolsonaro in the investigation of those who instigated the Jan. 8 riot in the country’s capital.
As the basis for their request, prosecutors in a recently formed group to combat anti-democracy acts cited a video Bolsonaro posted on Facebook two days after the riot, according to a statement. The video claims that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not voted into office, but was instead chosen by the Supreme Court and Electoral Authority of Brazil.
Otherwise, Bolsonaro has refrained from commenting on the election since his October 30 defeat. He repeatedly cast doubt about the reliability of the country’s electronic voting system for the vote, later filing a request to nullify the millions of ballots cast using the machines and never accepted.
Prosecutors argued that, although Bolsonaro posted the video after the riot, its content was sufficient to justify an earlier investigation into his conduct. Bolsonaro deleted it the morning after he first posted it.
Authorities are investigating who helped hardline supporters of Bolsonaro storm the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidential palace in an effort to overturn the results of the October election. Targets include those who paid rioters to be escorted to the capital and local security personnel who may have stood aside to let the mayhem unfold.
Much of the attention thus far has focused on Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, Anderson Torres, who became security chief of the Federal District on January 2, and was in the US on the day of the riots.
File: Brazil’s Justice Minister Anderson Torres holds a press conference on the operation linked to Operation Election, at the Command and Security Center of the Ministry of Justice, ahead of the general elections to be held October 1, 2022, in Brasilia, Brazil. (AP/Eraldo Perez)
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes this week ordered Torres’ arrest and opened an investigation into his actions, which he described as “neglect and complicity.” In his ruling, which was made public on Friday, de Moraes said Torres fired subordinates and left the country before the riots, a sign he was deliberately laying the groundwork for unrest.
Justice Minister Flavio Dino said on Friday that the court has also issued an arrest warrant for the former security chief, and that he must return within three days or Brazil will request his extradition.
“If his presence is not confirmed by next week, of course we will use the mechanism of international legal cooperation. We will start the process next week for his extradition,” Dino said.
Torres has denied wrongdoing and said on Twitter on 10 January that he would interrupt his vacation to return to Brazil and present his defence. Even after three days it has not happened yet.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro arrives to speak from his official residence of the Alvorada Palace on November 1, 2022 in Brasilia, Brazil, the leader’s first public remarks since his defeat in the October 30 presidential election. (AP Photo/Eraldo Perez)
The minister pointed to a document found by the Brazilian federal police when they searched Torres’ home; A draft decree that would have seized control of Brazil’s electoral authority and potentially overturned the election. The origin and authenticity of the unsigned document are unclear, and it is unknown whether Bolsonaro or his subordinates took any steps to implement the measure that would have been unconstitutional, according to analysts and the Brazilian Academy of Electoral and Political Law.
But the document “will be involved in the police investigation, as it fully reveals the existence of a chain of people responsible for the criminal incidents,” Dino said, adding that Torres would need to inform the police who prepared it.
Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro break a window while storming the Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia, January 8, 2023. (Sergio Lima / AFP)
Mario Sergio Lima, a political analyst at Madele Advisors, said that by failing to launch an investigation against the document’s author or to report its existence, Torres could be accused of dereliction of duty.
Torres said on Twitter that the document was probably found in a pile with other pieces intended to be shredded, and that it was leaked in the context of false narratives intended to discredit him.
Dino told reporters that no link has yet been established between the riots in the capital and Bolsonaro, who has been in Florida since late December.
The former governor of the federal district and former military police chief are also targets of a Supreme Court investigation made public on Friday.
Both were removed from their posts after the riot.
