Brasilia: The Supreme Court of Brazil has agreed to include former President Jair Bolsonaro in its probe into the riots January 8 staged by thousands of his radical supporters in the capital Brasilia.
This is the first time that Bolsonaro has been named among those potentially responsible for the storming of the Supreme Court, Congress, and the presidential palace, reports the BBC.
Friday’s development came days after he had posted a video questioning the legitimacy of the October 31, 2022, presidential election which was won by a narrow margin by his rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In the video, the right-wing former president claimed that Lula was not voted into office but rather chosen by the Supreme Court and the country’s electoral authority.
According to prosecutors, Bolsonaro may have incited a crime by making such claims.
They asked the Supreme Court Friday to include Bolsonaro in the investigation, the BBC reported.
Although the video was posted after the riots and later deleted, the Prosecutor General’s office argued that its content was sufficient to justify investigating Bolsonaro’s conduct beforehand.
Meanwhile, many businessmen and officials are being investigated, including Brasilia’s former head of security, Anderson Torres, who flew to the US ahead of the riots.
On Thursday, police visited his home and found a document reportedly trying to reverse the election result.
More than 1,200 people have been formally arrested and are being charged in relation to the riots.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for several top officials accused of being “responsible for acts and omissions” that led to the violence.
