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Montevideo, November 4th 2024 - 08:44 UTC

 

 

Bolsonaro insists he was not behind Jan. 8 riots

Thursday, April 27th 2023 - 10:44 UTC
Full article 2 comments
Bolsonaro had said that Lula had not been elected by the people but by the courts of justice Bolsonaro had said that Lula had not been elected by the people but by the courts of justice

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro denied being behind the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia whereby some of his followers were trying to lure the Armed Forces into staging a coup d'état against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro testified Wednesday for two hours before the Federal Police and denied any responsibility in the uprising. He also said that he “accidentally” published a video questioning the legitimacy of the 2022 presidential elections he lost to Lula.

Former Information Minister Fabio Wajngarten -a current advisor of Bolsonaro's- insisted that his boss “repudiated that same day” the assault on the headquarters of the three branches of government by hundreds of his followers.

The statement to the police came at a time when the Brazilian Congress officially launched a parliamentary committee to investigate the case.

Bolsonaro is under investigation for his alleged role as mastermind and instigator of the riots of January 8. He had left Brazil for the United States on Dec. 30, two days before the handover of power to Lula. On Jan. 8 he was in Orlando, Florida.

The prosecution had requested Bolsonaro be included in the investigation, citing a video that the former president uploaded to his social networks on Jan. 10 in which he questioned the election results saying Lula “was not elected by the people” but by the electoral and supreme court of justice, without corroborating evidence.

Bolsonaro's lawyer Paulo Bueno said Wednesday that the former president was probably under the effect of some medication when he shared the publication, as he had been hospitalized shortly before. “The publication was so accidental that he did not make any subsequent comment and deleted it shortly after,” he said.

The Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday charged 100 of the more than 200 denounced by the prosecution of having been involved in the riots. The defendants will be charged with attempted coup d'état and criminal association, punishable by over 20 years in prison.

For Bolsonaro, Wednesday's police statement was the second since he returned to Brazil on March 30. On April 5, he had to testify in another investigation opened for the irregular entry into Brazil of valuable jewelry gifts.

The former president faces a total of four investigations in the highest court, with prison sentences, in addition to more than a dozen administrative proceedings in the Superior Electoral Court for alleged abuse of political and economic power during the 2022 election campaign.

Categories: Politics, Brazil.

Top Comments

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  • Pugol-H

    Oh, but did he have an affair with Stormy Daniels and pay her off from campaign funds??? Which is what people want to know.

    Just to complete the circle and preserve balance in the Universe, you understand.

    Apr 27th, 2023 - 10:56 pm +1
  • MarkWhelan

    “The Big B” was not behind the riots on January the 8th. Quite correct he was hiding in the U.S.A. just like the coward he is. He was too scared that if he was in the back of the crowd the would have been driven forward to the danger zone where he may have been injured.
    Now as to the planning financing and organising that is a totally different matter. It has to be said that his retoric in the period leading up to the elecction was designed to incite unrest and the subsequent public statements were intended to inflame his followers to take the law into their own hand.
    I am sure that the timing of the release of the video (10 January) questioning the legitimacy of the 2022 presidential elections he lost to Lula also had nothing to do with causing the riot on January the 8th.
    On this one point I will agree with him.
    I understand that this timing was due to his poor health. If he had deen healthy he would probably have releases it on the 6th.

    Apr 27th, 2023 - 01:46 pm 0
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