Prosecutors Ask to Investigate Bolsonaro for Crime Incitement

A group of 79 prosecutors and assistant prosecutors from the Federal Public Ministry sent the Brazilian Attorney General Augusto Aras a criminal request against former President Jair Bolsonaro for the crime of incitement.

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The document demands that Bolsonaro be investigated in cases about fake news, which were disseminated by digital militias that called for actions against Brazilian democracy. These cases are currently under supervision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

Prosecutors point out that the far-right politician posted on his Facebook account in the early hours of January 10 and 11 messages that could be interpreted as "acts of incitement" that publicly encourage other people to violate the law.

Among other things, Bolsonaro posted a video questioning the results of the October 2022 presidential election, in which Workers' Party candidate Lula da Silva emerged victorious. In other words, he once again attacked electronic voting and hinted at an alleged fraud.

That video includes an interview in which a Mato Grosso do Sul state attorney asserts without presenting any evidence that there was fraud and electronic voting is unreliable. He also dared to say that the people did not elect Lula but the Supreme Court and the Electoral Tribunal.

The tweet: "Another curious expense on the corporate card of former President Jair Bolsonaro: on Jan. 23, 2019, six expenses for R$ 45,780 correspond to accommodation in two hotels in Rio de Janeiro. That same day, Bolsonaro was speaking at the Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland."

The complaint filed against Bolsonaro occurs a few days after his supporters stormed the headquarters of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches in Brasilia on January 8.

Regarding this attempted coup, Deputy Attorney General Lucas Rochas asked the Court of Accounts to block Bolsonaro's assets to compensate for the damage caused by his followers. This measure would also be applied to the governor of Brasilia Ibaneis Rocha and his Security Secretary Anderson Torres, who were dismissed from their posts this week.

On Friday, the Federal Police raided Torres' house and found a draft of a decree that would have allowed Bolsonaro to establish a "Defense State" at the Electoral Tribunal's headquarters.

This action was aimed at arbitrarily and unconstitutionally reversing the victory of Lula da Silva. Currently, Anderson weighs arrest warrant