On Wednesday (04/01), Federal Police General Director (PF) Andrei Passos told journalists that there will be an investigation into possible criminal acts committed during the government of Jair Bolsonaro. Passos said that the PF investigates, and it will continue to do so. For him, there were a series of acts committed during the last Government that were crimes, thus they need to be investigated.
No Amnesty
In recent days, during the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and several ministers had the chorus of “no amnesty” intoned by left-wing militants. It is a request for any misdeeds by the former government, especially with regard to handling the pandemic, to be investigated.
Revenge
Former Vice-President and now Senator General Hamilton Mourão said, during an interview with journalists, that Lula’s government “arrived in a spirit of revenge and without understanding that it won an election by a small margin, therefore without frank majority support”.
“Classified”
For political commentators, the first steps to find eventual crimes committed by the previous administration have already begun. Right after taking office, President Lula (PT) determined that the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) reassess within 30 days documents that were classified by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The measure is part of a set of measures signed by Lula and published on Sunday (01/01). The secrecy imposed by the previous government on the disciplinary process against former Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello, on the records of visits to the Planalto Palace and on the purchase of chloroquine by the Army are targeted by new government.
Also in sight are denials of access to information on the policy to expand access to weapons promoted by the previous administration, such as data on gun records kept by the Army and the Federal Police, and those used for the preparation of normative acts.
The classification of public data as reserved – which prevents its disclosure during a certain period – must be exceptional and justified with technical criteria, but, in the view of members of the current government, it was trivialized in the previous administration. The understanding is that secrecy, which in some cases can last for 100 years, was used to protect personal and political interests of Bolsonaro (PL).
Leaving the Country
On 30 December, former President Bolsonaro left the country on a flight to Miami, Florida, US. Political analysts and local newspapers announced that he was leaving the country for fear of being arrested, since he now does not have privileged jurisdiction. This means that he can now respond to inquiries and processes in common courts, thus, not in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which is reserved for those who hold political office.
Some of the cases in which Bolsonaro is investigated are: disclosure of fake news about the vaccine against Covid-19; leak of confidential data from the Federal Police (PF); attacks on ballot boxes and digital militias; alleged interference in the Federal Police.
Our Analysis
Considering the current political scenario, in which many sectors of the society are already mobilized against the recently inaugurated government, any investigation that could lead to the condemnation and arrest of former President Bolsonaro is a sensitive topic. Such event could stimulate more disturbances to public order and demonstrations more intense than those seen shortly after the end of the elections.
