The investigation into whether former president Jair Bolsonaro fueled the far-right mob that looted the country’s Congress, the highest court, and presidential buildings has quickly escalated, showing the ex-leader may be held accountable for an extremist movement he helped create.
Mr Bolsonaro is the first person to be mentioned as possibly being behind the unrest on January 8th.
It happens shortly after Mr Bolsonaro published a video in which he questioned the validity of the presidential election held in October.
According to the prosecution, Mr Bolsonaro may have encouraged a crime by making such statements.
On Friday, they formally requested that the ex-president be included in the probe before the Supreme Court.
Prosecutors contended that the substance of the video, which Bolsonaro released after the riot and later removed, was sufficient to support an investigation into his actions before the riot.
Apart from that, Bolsonaro has stayed silent about the race since his loss on October 30. He continuously fostered scepticism about the accuracy of the electronic voting system before the election, filed a request to throw out millions of votes cast using the machines afterwards, and never bowed out.
Bolsonaro will be investigated for what the PGR claimed was the “instigation and intellectual authorship” of the unrest, Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes stated.
Justice de Moraes warned that “Public figures who continue to cowardly conspire against democracy trying to establish a state of exception will be held accountable.”
On Sunday, tens of thousands of extreme Bolsonaro followers invaded the nation’s Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential palace amid ongoing allegations that the election was rigged.
For weeks, they had positioned themselves in and around Brasilia, the nation’s capital, and demanded a military takeover.
According to his wife, Mr Bolsonaro was hospitalised in Florida for abdominal pain and was later discharged.
After declining to participate in the transfer of power to Lula, he left Brazil for the United States in late December.
