BRASÍLIA—Brazil’s Supreme Court authorized Friday an investigation into former President
Jair Bolsonaro
over accusations he incited last weekend’s riots by asserting the election that removed him from office was rigged.
Before the Oct. 30 vote won by leftist candidate
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
Mr. Bolsonaro, a conservative, warned about the potential for voter fraud and some of his supporters say they don’t believe Mr. da Silva is the country’s legitimate president. Mr. Bolsonaro hasn’t conceded defeat.
Mr. Bolsonaro, who has been in the U.S. since late December, this week condemned acts of vandalism and the invasion of government buildings after thousands of his supporters attacked the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court.
Mr. Bolsonaro “has always repudiated all illegal and criminal acts, and always spoken publicly against such illicit conduct, just as he has always been a defender of the constitution and democracy,” Frederick Wassef, Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyer, said in a statement Friday.
The Supreme Court’s announcement late Friday came after a request from the Brazilian prosecutor general’s office to investigate Mr. Bolsonaro over the weekend’s turmoil.
The court has powers to authorize the investigation and arrest of suspects, and it has taken an active role in thwarting what it says is antidemocratic behavior by Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters, drawing criticism of political bias from right-wing parties.
Since the riots, the court has ordered the removal of Brasília’s federal district governor, a Bolsonaro ally. It also ordered the arrest of Anderson Torres, the secretary in charge of public security in Brasília, and Fábio Vieira, commander of the military police in the city at the time of the riots.
Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro outside the former Brazilian president’s rental house Kissimmee, Fla., on Thursday.
Photo:
chandan khanna/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Mr. da…
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