Bolsonaro Accuses Witzel of Manipulating Investigation into Marielle Franco

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Thursday, November 21st, President Jair Bolsonaro accused the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, of manipulating the investigation of the Marielle Franco case and said that his life has “turned to hell” since the election of his former ally.

“This is the work of a governor who has the obsession of being president of the Republic. They say that in his office he wears the presidential band,” Bolsonaro said during the launching ceremony of the Alliance for Brazil, a party he plans to create after splitting with the PSL.

“He [Witzel] got it into his head that he wanted to destroy Bolsonaro,” he said, adding that the governor of Rio has used the state’s Civil Police to achieve this goal. Bolsonaro referred to the investigation into the murder of the PSOL city councilor in March 2018.

The president was mentioned in the investigation of the case by a condo superintendent in Rio de Janeiro where he has a home. In a statement given to the Civil Police, the employee said one of the individuals indicted for the murder was authorized by Bolsonaro to access the Condominium Vivendas da Barra.

In new questioning, this time by the Federal Police, the superintendent backed down and said he was wrong to mention the president in the authorization.

During the Alliance for Brazil event, Bolsonaro also recounted his conversation with Witzel about the investigations. He said he met the governor on October 9th and was told by the governor that “the case was referred to the Supreme Court”.

I asked, “How do you know this if the case is being prosecuted in secret,” said Bolsonaro, who then said that Witzel is manipulating the investigation.

In fact, the mention of Bolsonaro’s name was reported to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), but, according to the Prosecutor General, the case was dismissed. “It seems that it does not matter for the left-wing to find the principals of the crime, but rather to use them it to damage other people’s reputation,” said Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro owns two properties within the Vivendas da Barra condominium. In addition to the property where he lived with his family, one of his sons, Carlos Bolsonaro, a city councilor for the PSC, lives in another.

In City Hall, Carlos was once involved in a harsh argument in 2017 with an advisor to Marielle. On that occasion, the city councilor herself stepped in to calm Bolsonaro’s son. The advisor involved in the incident has already testified during the investigation into Marielle’s death.

The Rio police, however, have intensified their search for witnesses in recent weeks to better understand the circumstances of the quarrel, which was already known to the investigators and had been mentioned by Carlos earlier.

On this subject, Bolsonaro said on Thursday that they are now “trying to involve Carlos” in the investigations. “Part of some in Brazil want to pin on me the prospect that I am one of the principals of Marielle’s murder,” he added.

Bolsonaro claimed that this was not the case and that he would be an “imbecile” if he had seen one of the perpetrators of the crime in his home. He also said he regrets the murder of the city councilor.

In a final attack on Witzel, the president said the governor should be grateful because he would not have been elected without the help of Carlos and his other son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro.