BRASILIA, Brazil – Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday denied all involvement in anti-government riots by his supporters in January as he appeared earlier than federal police.
The far-right chief is being investigated for his alleged function in masterminding and instigating the riots that sought the overthrow of his successor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro, who returned to Brazil in late March after spending three months within the US state of Florida, was questioned for greater than two hours on the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, however left in a automobile with tinted home windows with out chatting with reporters.
Shortly afterward, Bolsonaro’s spokesman Fabio Wajngarten instructed the press that the previous president had “repudiated all the unfortunate events that happened in Brasilia” on the day of the riot.
One motive the investigation was launched was as a result of two days after the riot, Bolsonaro shared a video to social media of a prosecutor contesting the validity of Lula’s victory.
Bolsonaro’s lawyer Paulo Bueno mentioned the president had been below the impact of medicine and had simply been admitted to hospital when he shared the video.
“The sharing was so accidental that he did not mention it afterward and soon deleted it,” mentioned Bueno after the listening to.
Lula, who beforehand led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, narrowly beat Bolsonaro in a fractious, divisive election final October.
Thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace in Brasilia on January 8, every week after Lula took workplace.
In scenes paying homage to the January 6, 2021 riots in Washington by supporters of ex-president Donald Trump — Bolsonaro’s political function mannequin — they trashed workplaces, smashed home windows, vandalized artworks and referred to as for the navy to intervene to oust Lula.
Some 1,800 folks have been arrested.
Numerous investigations
Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on December 30, two days earlier than he was as a consequence of hand over the presidential sash to Lula.
On January 13, Supreme Court choose Alexandre de Moraes opened an investigation into Bolsonaro’s alleged involvement within the January 8 rampage, wherein rioters simply broke by way of a safety cordon.
A parliamentary committee of inquiry is because of be arrange quickly in Congress to make clear the occasions of January 8.
Former military captain Bolsonaro was beforehand interviewed by police on April 5 in relation to an accusation that he tried to illegally import tens of millions of {dollars} price of jewellery gifted by Saudi Arabia.
A supply near the previous president instructed AFP that he denied that accusation.
Bolsonaro is the topic of at the least 16 different investigations wherein, if discovered responsible, he could possibly be sentenced to jail or disqualified from politics. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
