Brazil Supreme Court includes Bolsonaro in Jan 8 riot probe

BRASÍLIA – Brazil’s prosecutor-general moved yesterday to investigate ex-president Jair Bolsonaro for alleged “instigation and intellectual authorship” of the January 8 sacking of government buildings in Brasilia.

The office of the prosecutor-general said in a statement it had asked the Supreme Court to include Bolsonaro on a list of people under investigation after he posted a video “questioning the regularity of the 2022 presidential elections”.

By doing so, “Bolsonaro would have publicly incited the commission of a crime”, said the statement.

The video was posted two days after the violent storming of the presidency, Congress and Supreme Court by supporters of Bolsonaro, and later deleted.

The prosecutor-general explained that even though the video came after the uprising, it may serve as “a probative connection” that justified “a global investigation of the acts performed before and after January 8, 2023, by the defendant”. – AFP, January 14, 2023