Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro testified this Wednesday for more than two hours before the Court with an obvious objective: to make it clear that he had nothing to do with what happened on January 8 in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, in Brasilia, when Thousands of people invaded and destroyed the headquarters of the Government, Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
Bolsonaro, president of Brazil between 2019 and 2023, was called to testify by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) regarding a video that he shared on the social network Facebook: the video suggested that the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as president was the result of manipulation by the Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and the STF.
“The video was published on the president’s Facebook page when he was trying to transmit it to his WhatsApp archive to view it later,” argued Paulo Cunha Bueno, Bolsonaro’s lawyer, who accompanied the former president during the statement. “It was done in the wrong way. So much so that shortly after, two or three hours later, he was warned and immediately removed the post,” he added.
Today’s was the first summons to Bolsonaro in the investigation into the invasion of the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, which seeks to determine the masterminds and their financiers, among other aspects. The former president had already appeared before the Court less than three weeks ago in the framework of the investigation for a series of jewels, given by the Government of Saudi Arabia and which were entered into Brazil irregularly.
The investigation that seeks to determine whether Bolsonaro promoted a coup is just beginning, because there are other elements that incriminate the former president and that will probably parade him through the courts in the coming months. Social networks, which in 2018 were key to his accession to power, this time play against the leader of the Brazilian hard right.
“The post was made in the wrong way, a few moments after the former president left the hospital, when he was under the influence of medication and still very weak,” Cunha Bueno insisted in court.
“The mechanics of posting on Facebook is just two clicks on the ‘share’ icon. We have attached a video illustrating how it is done. You didn’t even realize you had posted such content. Once alerted and aware of the post , deleted the video.”
Bolsonaro is also in the crosshairs for his relationship with Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice of his Government, and who as of January 1 served as Minister of Security of the Federal District of Brasilia (DF). Torres was pointed out as an accomplice in the invasion of the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, whose security he was in charge of. In those hours of chaos, the minister was removed from office by the governor of the DF.
Days later, during a raid on Torres’ house, the Federal Police (PF) found a series of documents detailing a plan to strip the TSE of its powers during the 2022 presidential election, which Lula won by a narrow 50, 9% to 49.1% over Bolsonaro. In those days, Torres was on vacation in Orlando, the city in the US state of Florida where Bolsonaro spent almost three months after deciding not to hand over command to Lula on January 1 of this year.
“The president made himself available to return at any time and clarify any other point,” Bolsonaro’s lawyer said. The former president assured the court that the 2022 elections are already “a turned page” in his life.
“The declarant reiterates that he repudiates and condemns each and every one of the acts aimed at shaking the democratic order and that during his four years in office he has always acted within the ‘four lines’ of the Federal Constitution,” added lawyer Cunha Well.
Despite these words, the Brazilian media highlighted the difficulties in defending Bolsonaro.
“Throughout his term, Bolsonaro accumulated statements of a coup nature and, when he lost the elections, in addition to not recognizing the result, he encouraged supporters to remain in camps that asked the Armed Forces for federal intervention to prevent the investiture of the President Lula,” said Folha de Sao Paulo.
The investigation, in charge of the PF, will be long and promises to bring surprises, since it targets the masterminds -the front that most complicates Bolsonaro-, the financiers and those responsible for the logistics that allowed the transfer of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters to Brasilia to prepare the invasion.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project