Brazil’s Prosecutor General’s Office maintains inquiry into Bolsonaro for electoral system attacks

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Deputy Prosecutor General Lindôra Araújo rejected President Jair Bolsonaro’s defense request to close the investigation into the alleged spread of fake news in live streams in July and August. The position was issued on December 13.

“There are indications that undue spreading of false and/or unreliable information may have occurred, as well as that some of those involved in the live stream on 29.7.2021 were aware of the inaccuracy of the information spread,” the Deputy Prosecutor said. “In this context, it is premature to close the investigations,” she added.

Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes is the rapporteur of the inquiry into the President’s alleged attacks on the ballot box and the electoral process.

The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) has indications of a potential connection with digital militia activities.

On July 29, the President said that “there is no way to prove that the elections were or weren’t rigged.”

A man accompanying Bolsonaro also presented what he claimed were “indications” of electoral fraud: a video of a ballot box simulator, which would repeat a pattern of vote shifting that allegedly occurred in the electronic ballot box; videos recorded in previous elections, in which voters claimed to have seen discrepancies between the vote and the image displayed by the ballot box; and statistical hypotheses, which would presumably indicate fraud, facts that have never been proven.

On August 4, Justice Alexandre de Moraes accepted the request for an investigation into President Bolsonaro for his comments during the live stream. The request was filed by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), by means of a criminal notice. The investigation is secret, and was included in the “Fake News” inquiry, also in Moraes’ hands.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error