Brazilian Lawmaker To Be Investigated For Apology Of Nazism

On Tuesday, Brazil's Attorney General Augusto Aras ordered an investigation to establish whether the "We Can" Party lawmaker Kim Kataguiri and youtuber Bruno Monteiro (aka Monark) advocated Nazism.

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During an episode of "Flow Podcast" broadcast on Monday, Kataguiri and Monteiro had a dialogue in which they discussed about "freedom of expression," an issue that allowed for phrases related to the need for Brazil to have its own Nazi party and the mistakes Germany made in criminalizing right-wing extremists.

"I think there should be a Nazi party recognized by law... the radical left has much more space than the radical right, both should have space... If someone wants to be anti-Jewish, I think they have the right to be," Monteiro said.

Besides criticizing those statements, progressive politicians, judges, actors, and intellectuals turned to social networks to recall phrases and actions undertaken by the "We Can" politician.

In 2018, for example, during an argument in defense of private property, Kataguiri proposed the need to define the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST) and the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST) as terrorist organizations. 

The tweet reads," We have already seen atrocities said on TV and radio but a 'sieg heil' is too absurd, even for Jovem Pan. After a day like yesterday, after a lawmaker and a youtuber defended the existence of the Nazi Party in Brazil, Adrilles gave a Nazi salute on TV."

“Defending Nazism is not freedom of expression. Defending a regime that murdered six million innocent Jews just for being Jews, in the greatest genocide in history, is a disgusting and criminal challenge," said Davi Alcolumbre, a senator for the Brazilian Democratic Party.

The German Embassy in Brazil also pointed out that "defending Nazism is not freedom of expression", while the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice Gilmar Mendes and Alexandre de Moraes emphasized that the apology of Nazism is a crime.

On Tuesday, Monark assured that his statements were the consequence of "the drunkenness" he had while he was hosting the podcast. For his part, Kataguiri said he would collaborate with the Prosecutor's Office but insisted that he was misunderstood because his speech "was always anti-Nazi."

Currently, Brazil has at least 530 neo-Nazi groups in operation, according to anthropologist Alessandra Dias, who has been researching the rise of the far right since 2002. Neo-Nazi militancy has been proliferating since former Captain Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019.