RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) and the Vladimir Herzog Institute will go to the United Nations human rights headquarters in Switzerland to accuse the government of Jair Bolsonaro for supporting prior military dictatorships.
According to Jamil Chad’s blog on the UOL website, the unprecedented move will take place next Tuesday, September 10th, in an intervention before the UN Human Rights Council.
The act had already been scheduled but gained momentum when the president sparked a new international crisis by praising Augusto Pinochet’s regime and criticizing the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet.
Bolsonaro attacked the Chilean’s father, who was a high-ranking military officer who was tortured and killed during the country’s dictatorship.
Bolsonaro’s attack came after a speech by Bachelet, who alerted on Wednesday, September 4th, to a “reduction in democracy” in Brazil, particularly through attacks against nature and human rights advocates.
In addition, Bolsonaro again praised the Brazilian dictatorship this week. In an event for entrepreneurs in Brasilia, the president said that the period in which the military was in power “was top score”.
“The period may have been difficult in some ways, but the economy was top, in respect to the family it was top. In the love for the neighbor it was top and for the Homeland it was also top score”, affirmed the president.
The complaint before the Human Rights Council will be lodged by Hélio Leitão, president of the National Commission on Human Rights of the Brazilian Bar Association.
His speech will point to the actions of the Brazilian president in commemorating the dictatorship, in praise of torturers and, most importantly, to the depletion of national committees designed to examine dictatorship cases and monitor torture today.
According to organizers, the event aims to provide information on the alarming situation in which Brazil finds itself in terms of setbacks.