This Thursday, February 8, the Brazilian Police ordered the confiscation of the passport of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is prohibited from leaving the country, within the framework of the investigation into the assault on the headquarters of the three powers of the country, which occurred in January 2023. In the middle of the operation, the agents carried out search warrants and preventive detention in a dozen states in the country. Among the people who are the subject of the search and capture provisions are military personnel and members of the former president's Administration, his closest circle.
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The siege is tightening around former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. This Thursday, February 8, the Police launched an extensive operation throughout the country, which included the order to confiscate the former president's passport and prohibit him from leaving the countryas well as various capture provisions, 33 registered and four in preventive detention, in ten states of the South American giant.
The actions take place within the framework of an investigation led by Judge Alexandre de Moraes for the assault on the headquarters of the three powers of the country, which occurred on January 8, 2023, the worst attack on the heart of Brazilian democracy. The events occurred only a week after current President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva took office, a victory that was not recognized by his predecessor, who unsuccessfully attempted re-election.
A federal police source directly involved in the operation indicated that Passport seizure may indicate possibility of future arrests and forces the suspects to remain in Brazilian territory to face any charges before Justice.
Police operation in Brazil against former president Jair Bolsonaro and several of his closest allies for attempting a coup d'état that would keep him in power.
A Supreme Court judge has ordered the former president to hand over his passport. https://t.co/59v7vLWWnm
— EFE News (@EFEnoticias) February 8, 2024
The former head of state will comply with the request to hand over his travel identification, said Bolsonaro family spokesman Fabio Wajngarten, after agents visited the former president's beach house this Thursday and requested the handover of that document.
Likewise, Bolsonaro has been informed that he will not be able to communicate with any of those involved in the investigation, not even through his lawyers.
What are the indications of the investigation?
The authorities' investigation indicates that Former members of Bolsonaro's government and the military formed a criminal organization that coordinated actions to try to keep the political leader in powerdespite his electoral defeat.
According to the decision of Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes that triggered this Thursday's operation, in November 2022 Bolsonaro received a draft decree to revoke the electoral results and issue arrest warrants against Moraes, also a supreme court judge. Gilmar Mendes, and the leader of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco.
At Bolsonaro's request, the draft decree was modified, but Moraes' arrest and the demand for new elections were maintained, according to the court order that cites police investigations.
After modifying the decree, the then president summoned the military commanders and pressured them to allegedly support a coup d'état, according to the Police account based on telephone records and testimonies of the former aide-de-camp of the former leader of the country about agreements of culpability.
The investigated group would have prepared before the 2022 elections to allege electoral fraud “in order to allow and legitimize a military intervention,” the police assured.
Among the people against whom the arrest warrants they find each other the general and former Minister of Defense, Walter Braga NettoHe too soldier and former head of Bolsonaro's security cabinet, Augusto Heleno, former Minister of Defense Paulo Sergio Nogueira and former Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres; as well as several advisors and soldiers from the former president's inner circle.
Among the most notable preventive detention orders is that of Filipe Martins, Bolsonaro's main advisor. The other three are addressed to several soldiers, one of whom could not be arrested because he is in the United States.
The new steps by the authorities represent an escalation in the investigation against the former president, a man who presented himself as a Brazilian version of former US president Donald Trump, but whose political life has plummeted.
On June 6, 2023, Bolsonaro was declared ineligible for public office until 2030 for spreading electoral falsehoods and faces other criminal investigations that could land him in jail. However, the former ruler rejects the accusations and considers that the investigations against him are politically motivated.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
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