MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro subject to yet another inquiry, this time for releasing secret Brazilian Federal Police reports

De Moraes is a member of both the TSE and the STF

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Thursday the opening of a new criminal investigation against President Jair Bolsonaro, for allegedly disclosing secret Federal Police documents while campaigning to discredit the electronic voting system.

De Moraes had also launched another process against Bolsonaro for massive dissemination of false news and attacks on democratic institutions.

Bolsonaro has maintained the electronic ballots can be tampered with and pushed for a new legislation to add parallel paper ballots so that voting could be easily monitored without the need of complex computer science skills.

But his motion has been turned down earlier this week by the House of Deputies, which resulted in the issue being shelved with no chance of reviewing this year.

The President has maintained that under the present conditions electoral fraud was possible and even threatened that there would be no elections in October 2022. Brazil has used the electronic voting system since 1996.

To support his stance, Bolsonaro released on social media secret police documents included in an investigation into a computer attack on the systems of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) that occurred in 2018.

After that, the TSE requested the STF Monday that Bolsonaro be investigated for his behavior, which may constitute a crime for “disclosing, without just cause, secret or reserved information.”

De Moraes also included Bolsonarista Deputy Filipe Barros and Commissioner Vitor Feitosa, who was in charge of conducting the leaked investigation. “The data could never have been disclosed without due judicial authorization,” said De Moraes, who is also a member of the TSE, in his decision.

He also ordered the suspension of Feitosa and the suppression of the links published by Bolsonaro so that any user could download the reports of the case that took place under summary secrecy and which involved the alleged existence of far-right “digital militias” that use the networks to undermine the image of democracy, of which Bolsonaro himself also appears as a suspect.

Bolsonaro has publicly claimed the TSE sought to favor former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a clear favorite for next year's elections over the incumbent head of state.