Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks with the media as he leaves the Federal Police headquarters after testifying about the January 8 riots, in Brasilia, Brazil, October 18, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
BRASILIA (Reuters) -A Brazil congressional probe into the Jan. 8 insurrection by thousands of Jair Bolsonaro's supporters on Wednesday recommended that the far-right former president and some of his closest allies be charged with an attempted coup d'état and other crimes.
After months of hearing witnesses and probing the events surrounding the invasion of government buildings in Brasilia just days after leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office, lawmakers approved Senator Eliziane Gama's final report.
On Tuesday, Gama, the rapporteur of the inquiry, had recommended that Bolsonaro should face charges of criminal association, political violence, disrupting the democratic order and an attempted coup d'état. The inquiry has no power to punish Bolsonaro or his allies but can issue recommendations for prosecutors to file criminal or civil charges.
Lawmakers voted by 20 votes to 11 to approve Gama's text, passing it without any amendments. The committee also recommended criminal charges against 60 other people, including some of Bolsonaro's closest allies, such as his running mate in the last election, former army general Walter Braga Netto, and former national security adviser Augusto Heleno.
"Congress gave a response of intolerance to anti-democratic acts," Senator Gama told reporters after the vote.
"It's a demonstration that Brazil overcame fascism, overcame barbarism," she said.
The findings of the congressional inquiry only add to Bolsonaro's legal woes, which have grown since he begrudgingly stepped down last year. The former president has repeatedly denied breaking any laws, and calls allegations against him a witch hunt by his political opponents.
Bolsonaro, who forged a nationwide election denial movement ahead of his narrow loss to Lula in last year's vote, has already been ruled politically ineligible until 2030 by the country's federal electoral court for making unfounded claims during the campaign about the vulnerabilities of Brazil's election system.
Meanwhile, he is still the subject of at least five criminal investigations led by the Supreme Court.
He has also seen a close former aide strike a cooperation deal with the federal police. Mauro Cid was allegedly a key player in two high-profile criminal probes into Bolsonaro. Police are investigating whether he and his team falsified his COVID-19 vaccination records to enter the United States, and are also looking into allegations they illegally sold expensive jewels gifted to his administration by the Saudi government.
(Reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello;)
