Jair Bolsonaro bought ice cream and pizza with his presidential card

AFP extension

Brazil: Bolsonaro in the crosshairs of the investigation into the fury in Brasilia

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose relatives have already been implicated, is now directly targeted by justice for his role in the looting of national institutions in Brasilia. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes announced on Friday that he had included , as requested by the Attorney General’s Office, the former far-right head of state in his investigation aimed at discovering the possible instigators of the January 8 violence in the Brazilian capital. Bolsonaro, narrowly beaten by the leftist candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the October presidential elections, “committed public incitement to the commission of a crime” by broadcasting a video on social networks “challenging the regularity of the 2022 presidential elections” , the indictment explained in a press release. This video was published two days after the invasion of the presidential headquarters, Congress and the Supreme Court by thousands of Bolsonarists, then deleted, the indictment recalled. But it could, according to him, provide “a link of evidence” justifying “a global investigation into the acts committed before and after January 8, 2023” by Bolsonaro. The former president “never had the slightest connection or participation in these movements,” his lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP, attributing the violence in Brasilia to “infiltrated” elements. Bolsonaro, in the United States since late December, was already nailed on Friday for lavish spending during his mandate, such as the 20,000 euros paid in one go to a modest restaurant in northern Brazil or the 10,000 euros in a bakery the day after the wedding of his son. Presidential credit card statements for his four years in office (2019-2022) have been published on an official website of the Lula government, which has begun to lift a 100-year-old secret enforced by his predecessor on thousands of official documents.- Draft decree – The opening of an investigation against Bolsonaro follows another revelation already linked to the remake of the storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, and which highlights the lawsuit by former Justice Minister Anderson Torres, at whose home a draft decree was found which could have allowed the annulment of Lula’s election to the presidency, a very compromising revealed Thursday evening by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo was found during searches at the home of the former minister, the subject of an arrest warrant for alleged “collusion” with the perpetrators of the violence in Brasilia: “We will wait for him to show up until Monday. If not, we will start the extradition request procedure next week,” Lula’s Justice Minister Flavio Dino announced on Friday. He will return to Brazil to surrender to the authorities, without giving a specific date. The three-page document found at his home called on the federal government to take control of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which oversees the smooth conduct of voting, “to ensure that transparency is safeguarded and restored, and to approve the fairness of the process election for the presidential elections of 2022”. A measure considered by many to be unconstitutional In practice, the intention would have been to cancel the election of Lula. , led by a majority of members of the Ministry of Defense (8 out of 17).The document is undated, but Jair Bolsonaro’s name is at the end, in a space provided for his signature.- “Coup” – “While 33 million people suffered hunger, they were preparing a coup,” left-wing Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, group leader of the Lula government’s parliamentary bloc in the Upper House, tweeted on Friday. “It shows that what we saw on January 8 was not an isolated act. (The draft decree) is one of the links in a coup chain”, Flavio Dino had already declared on Thursday evening. Federal police told AFP they could not comment on an ongoing investigation. “probably in a stack of documents that should be destroyed in due time,” and said his disclosure was taken out of context. The former minister had been the head of security for the Federal District of Brasilia since January 2, but on vacation shortly after.rsr-lg/pt/ybl/fjb/roc/juf