Brazil judge orders Bolsonaro to testify about capital attack

The Supreme Court judge’s order is part of an investigation into the January 8 riots in which Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings.

A Brazil Supreme Court judge has ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to testify within 10 days about the storming of key government buildings in the country’s capital by mobs of his supporters earlier this year.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday agreed to a request from the country’s top prosecutor, who said Bolsonaro’s testimony was an “indispensable” step to clarify what happened in Brasilia on January 8.

“I accede to the request of the Attorney General of the Republic and direct the Federal Police to proceed with the hearing of Jair Messias Bolsonaro,” Moraes, who also heads Brazil’s electoral authority, wrote in the order.

Bolsonaro has faced months of criticism and swirling questions over his alleged role in the riots that saw thousands of his supporters loot Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace.

Some rioters had hoped to stage a military coup against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in the October 2022 elections and was inaugurated just days before the attack on Brazil’s state institutions.

Bolsonaro has denied any responsibility for the riots, which recalled the storming of the United States Capitol in 2021 by supporters of former President Donald Trump, who had emulated the ex-Brazilian president.

The far-right former army captain argued that he was out of the country in self-imposed exile in Florida, where he flew to two days before the end of his term after failing to publicly admit defeat to Lula.

But even before his election loss, Bolsonaro began spreading unfounded rumors about the legitimacy of the vote, questioning whether Brazil’s electronic voting system — which had been used for nearly a quarter of a century — was vulnerable to fraud.

Following his defeat, his political allies also filed a complaint with the Superior Electoral Court in an attempt to invalidate ballots processed through certain electronic voting machines, citing “serious malfunctions” and “malfunctions”. Their attempt was rejected.

Yet Bolsonaro’s false accusations of electoral fraud spurred many of his supporters to protest.

Truckers – a key Bolsonaro constituency – blocked hundreds of roads in the days following the election, while others formed camps near military barracks and called on the military to intervene on behalf of the ex-president.

On January 8, a week after Lula’s inauguration, tensions ran high, with hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters marching on the Three Powers Plaza in an apparent attempt to disrupt the transition of power.

Rioters smashed windows, clashed with police and destroyed government buildings.

Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia on January 8, 2023 [File: Adriano Machado/Reuters]

Lula has since accused Bolsonaro of masterminding the violence. “I’m sure Bolsonaro has actively participated in that and is still trying to get involved,” he told RedeTV! in the aftermath of the violence, called it an attempted “coup d’état”.

Hundreds of rioters were arrested in the days following the attack and Bolsonaro and other officials have been scrutinized for their alleged roles.

Bolsonaro’s former justice and public security minister Anderson Torres, who was in charge of security in Brasilia at the time of the attack, was arrested on suspicion of “negligence” and “complicity”.

Police also searched the homes and offices of several others, including Bolsonaro’s cousin Leonardo Rodrigues de Jesus.

The raids aim to identify those “who participated in, financed or promoted” the anti-democratic protests, authorities said.

Bolsonaro, who returned to Brazil late last month, faces a number of investigations in addition to the January 8 investigation.

Among them is an investigation into jewelry sets, worth more than $3.2 million, allegedly brought to Brazil from Saudi Arabia by members of Bolsonaro’s former government without proper documentation or statements.