One year after thousands of Jair Bolsonaro's supporters attacked the headquarters of the three powers in BrasiliaBrazilian Supreme Court Judge Gilmar Mendes exhaustively defends the former president's link to the attacks.
“(Bolsonaro's) political responsibility for the actions of January 8 is unequivocal,” Mendes told AFP during an interview in his office at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in Brasilia.
(Read also: Lula's secret in Brazil to stabilize the economy without giving up oil).
The senior judge of the court, 67 years old, at the same time he measures his words to refer to the legal responsibility of the rightist, aspect still “under trial”.
The president of the Supreme Electoral Court of Brazil, Judge Gilmar Mendes.
Bolsonaro, politically disqualified for eight years last June, He is investigated by the STF as a possible instigator and intellectual author of the attacks on public buildings, in an attempt to overthrow the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The former president, who was then in the United States, has denied any responsibility. But Mendes assured that his government (2019-2022) “encouraged some type of anarchy, especially among the police forces.”
“I even believe that the military did not remove the invaders (from the buildings) due to an encouragement that existed from the presidency itself,” said the magistrate, who has occupied one of the eleven seats in the Supreme Court's plenary session since 2002.
'Evaluation failures'
January 8, 2023a week after the inauguration of the leftist Lula after narrowly defeating Bolsonaro at the polls, Mendes was having lunch in Lisbon with his friend Nuno Piçarra, a colleague at the Court of Justice of the European Union, when he was surprised by news about the unrest growing in Brasilia.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Furious and disbelieving at the result of the presidential runoff, Bolsonaro supporters invaded the headquarters of Congress, the court and the presidency, They broke the furniture in their path and called for military intervention.
(Keep reading: Lula da Silva ends his first year in office in Brazil: achievements and challenges of the president).
Immediately, Mendes interrupted the meetingwent to his apartment and began sending messages and making calls to three people: his companions in court Alexandre de Moraes and Rosa Weber and Lula's new Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino. “No one knew the full extent of what was happening,” recalled the judge, who decided to return to Brazil early.
“The intelligence system was still occupied by people who came from the previous governmentr, there was no adequate passage of information, there were certainly evaluation failures” to avoid invasions, he considered.
The attacks, which many consider the greatest challenge to Brazilian democracy since the last dictatorship (1964-1985), They were the corollary of “intimidation” that justice suffered during the presidential elections, the judge said.
Bolsonaro questioned without evidence during the campaign the transparency of the electronic ballot box system in Brazil, an attitude that earned him his political disqualification in June.
Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro invaded the seats of power in Brasilia.
Government “I knew that the system was immune to fraud, but we suffered coercion, including from the (then) Minister of Defense (Paulo Sergio), who every morning wrote a letter suggesting some measure,” said the judge, one of the few judges of the court who maintained dialogue with the former president during his mandate. Bolsonaro “wanted a pretext to annul the elections or eventually to remain in power,” he said.
Necessary reforms
The STF was one of the main targets and object of grievances of the right-wing, furious about investigations against him, as well as about the spread of fake news. The negative image of the court among those who declare themselves followers of the former president persists to this day: disapproval reaches 65%, according to the consulting firm Datafolha.
“Our disapproval is high because they (the Bolsonaristas) say that we prevented the government from governing,” said the judge. YoEven on January 8, 2023, the supreme headquarters was the most damaged building.
(We recommend: Who was the Brazilian 'youtuber' found buried in a friend's yard?).
“Much more anger and hatred was placed against the STF. The propaganda was effective,” Mendes said. Today the STF plays a key role as the court where those responsible for 8/1 are tried. Of the 2,170 people arrested for these acts, so far 30 have been convicted of crimes such as coup d'état, with sentences of up to 17 years in prison. A total of 66 remain imprisoned.
The magistrate assured that now “the political system is more alert” to avoid violent events of this type. But “we certainly have to make reforms about the role of the armed forces and the politicization that occurred, with the occupation of civilian positions by the military” under Bolsonaro, he explained.
AFP
#39Bolsonaro39s #political #responsibility #riot #unequivocal39 #judge
