Brazil riots: Ex-Bolsonaro minister Anderson Torres arrested
Former Brazil minister Anderson Torres (left) with Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro (right).
A former minister in Ex-President Jair Bolsonaro's cabinet- Anderson Torres was arrested early Saturday (January 14) over the riots that broke out in the capital city of Brasilia on January 8. On this day, thousands of Bolsonaro's supporters stormed the capital city of Brasilia attacking the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace and Congress, calling for a military coup to oust President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Anderson Torres, who had served as Brazil's justice minister was arrested when he arrived in Brasilia from the United States- where he and Bolsonaro were at the time of the riots, a report by news agency AFP said.
Torres was wanted under a Supreme Court warrant for alleged "collusion" with the rioters and stands accused of "omission" in his most recent job as security chief for Brasilia. He has been fired from this post.
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The country's new justice minister Flavio Dino said on Friday that authorities would give Torres time until Monday to return to Brazil, or face extradition. Dino also confirmed the discovery of a draft decree at his predecessor's house which proposed emergency steps for the possible "correction" of the October election that President Lula da Silva won.
The draft showed Jair Bolsonaro's name at the bottom but Dino said the authorship was unknown. Published in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper on Thursday, the draft foresees a "state of defense" for the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The draft said the aim is "the preservation and immediate restoration of the transparency and correction of the 2022 presidential electoral process."
On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to open an investigation into Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly instigating anti-democratic protests that resulted in the riots in Brasilia. Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted a request from the prosecutor general's office to include Bolsonaro in the wider probe, citing a video he posted on Facebook two days after the riots. The video claimed that Lula da Silva was not voted into office, but rather was chosen by the Supreme Court and Brazil’s electoral authority. The video has been deleted by Bolsonaro and the former President has refrained from commenting on his election defeat, a report by the news agency AP said.
However, the trouble for Bolsonaro is not over as he faces several other investigations for anti-democratic statements he made as the President including that the election system was open to fraud. Liberal Party (PL), the political front he belongs to, now fears he will be held responsible for the January 8 riots. A PL leader told Reuters that while the party doesn't think that Bolsonaro will be arrested, it fears he could be declared ineligible to run in the next presidential election.
(With inputs from agencies)
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