The PL decided to reinforce former President Jair Bolsonaro’s team of lawyers amid what it considers a “counter-attack” by the Judiciary and the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Three Powers.
According to Bolsonaro’s party, authorities are seeking to implicate the former chief executive as responsible for acts of vandalism, two important party sources told Reuters.
The biggest concern, according to one of the sources at the top of Bolsonaro’s party, is that the Electoral Justice makes the former president ineligible, which could disrupt the party’s plans for expansion in the 2024 municipal elections using Bolsonaro as one of the showcases and puller. of votes, in addition to his new candidacy for the Planalto Palace in 2026.
Fears grew after violent acts on Sunday (8) by Bolsonaro supporters and after the former president shared a post on social media – taken down hours later – that again fueled distrust of the electoral process.
The former president is the target of 12 requests for investigation at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) for attacks on electronic voting machines and alleged abuse of power, among other facts, which could make him a dirty record in case of conviction. .
In December, the legal area of Lula’s ticket entered the TSE with two actions to investigate the former president for attacks on the electoral system and abuse of power due to the so-called “goodness package” distributed during the election period.
The legal core of the PT, according to a source outside the discussions, has already decided that it will explore the case of the destruction of the seats of Powers in some of the ongoing actions at the TSE.
Lawyers consider that the link between the attacks and Bolsonaro’s actions is “evident”, but must wait for the progress of investigations to have more blunt elements to make an addition (addition) in cases in progress.
“Doing it now without waiting for the investigations to progress would not be the most effective way, because more information will emerge”, pointed out a source linked to Lula’s campaign.
The PL will fund five lawyers to monitor the actions in the TSE and work to reject them, said a source from the party.
The main lawyer in Bolsonaro’s coalition, former TSE minister Tarcísio Vieira, should complete the handling of the cases he took on during the campaign, but without dwelling on new cases.
Allies concerned about Bolsonaro’s criminal situation
Another concern of allies is with Bolsonaro’s criminal situation, even more so after the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) asked this Friday for the inclusion of the former president in an inquiry to the STF for inciting crime by encouraging anti-democratic acts. which resulted in acts of invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Three Powers.
There is also fear of an eventual award-winning denunciation of Bolsonaro’s former Minister of Justice Anderson Torres, according to a source, after the Federal Police found a draft of a decree to establish a “state of defense” in a search of his house. at the TSE headquarters in order to open the way to change the result of last year’s election.
Torres had an arrest warrant issued against him by STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes and must surrender to the authorities as soon as he returns from the United States at the weekend.
According to a source at the PL, lawyer Marcelo Bessa’s office will handle criminal cases involving the former president.
In at least three cases identified by Reuters, Bolsonaro advised the Supreme Court that he appointed a private lawyer after losing the privileged forum: that of the digital militias; the leak of data from a confidential investigation by the Federal Police and the result of the final report of the CPI on the Pandemic.
So far, it is not known whether these and other cases against the former president – all reported by Moraes – will remain in the Supreme Court or go down to the first instance.
Moraes is expected to make a decision by the end of the month whether or not to keep the cases, a source at the STF said.
The fear that Bolsonaro will be arrested as a result of the investigations permeates the conversations of the nucleus closest to the former president since the defeat by Lula, and this fear has grown after Sunday’s attack, said one of the sources of the PL, which came out in his defense. “There is no reason to arrest the former president. Don’t get caught up in what he says,” he said.
In the PL, according to this source, the assessment is that Bolsonaro’s break with the Judiciary took place on the holiday of September 7, 2021, when the then president even said that he would not comply with Moraes’ orders, whom he called “scoundrel”.
(By Ricardo Brito of Reuters. With additional reporting by Anthony Boadle of Reuters)
Source: CNN Brasil
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