Police said Brazil’s Bolsonaro used intelligence agencies to monitor judges, lawmakers and journalists.
Rio de Janeiro (AP) – Brazilian federal police accused former President Jair Bolsonaro and 35 people of participation in a sprawling plan that uses the country’s intelligence agencies to monitor justice, lawmakers and members of journalists. The country’s Supreme Court on Wednesday removed the seal of the 1,125-page document, adding to the plight of far-right leaders.
Federal police documents say Bolson Rowe is aware of the program and its main beneficiaries. Daniel Carvalho Brasil Nascimento, the investigator of the investigative chairman, was appointed as Rio de Janeiro MP Carlos Bolsonaro, one of the sons of the former president, and was a key plot member. Police investigations focus on what Brazilian intelligence agencies call parallel structures.
“(Bolsonaro and Carlos) are responsible for the definition of criminal organizations’ strategic guidelines to select the targets of covert operations (targeting opponents, institutions, electoral systems), so they will gain political benefits from these operations,” the federal police said. “They are the center of decision-making and the main recipients of illegal advantages.”
Bolsonaro, who ruled between 2019 and 2022, has been banned by the Brazilian election court in next year’s election. He denied any misconduct and claimed he was politically persecuted.
One charge that Bolsonaro will be sentenced in the coup case is to lead a criminal group that blocks federal police from demanding both investigations in charges revealed on Wednesday, two investigations.
“If he is charged again with the same fact, it is likely to violate a prohibited injunction, a Latin formula that is a double punishment or double charge against the same bill,” said João Pedro Padua, a law professor at Fruminen Federal University.
The evidence revealed on Wednesday can still be used in coup investigations.
Bolsonaro’s attorney Celso Vilardi told the Associated Press that he has not yet analyzed the federal police report and its allegations against clients.
Brazil’s federal police also accused Luiz Fernando Corrêa, head of international intelligence agencies under Lula, of excessive intervention in the investigation. On Tuesday, staff at the agency issued a statement to push Corrêa to resign. He did not answer a request for comment.
Brazil’s Supreme Court will hand over the police investigation to prosecutor Paulo Gonet, who will decide whether to bring the investigation to the Supreme Court for trial.
Last year, police arrested five people in connection with the case, suspected that Brazilian intelligence agencies were abused.
Court documents show that several authorities were under illegal investigation at the time, including former Speakers Arthur Lira and Rodrigo Maia, Supreme Court Justice, officials of Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama, former João Doria of São Paulo and a well-known political journalist.
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Savarese reports to Sao Paulo.
