Brazil’s Prosecutor General urges Justice Moraes to reconsider inquiry into Bolsonaro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Prosecutor General Augusto Aras on Monday, December 13, filed an appeal to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) urging Justice Alexandre de Moraes to reconsider his decision to open an inquiry into President Jair Bolsonaro.

Aras argued that the petitioner of the inquiry, the Covid Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPI), lacked authority. The Prosecutor also cited an alleged inability of the Senate Attorney General to act in the case and the jurisdiction of the reporting Justice in the absence of the alleged impediment.

According Aras, contrary to claims in the decision to open proceedings, “there has never been any ministerial inertia” in relation to the events alleged in the petition: the practice, in theory, of epidemic crimes, violation of health measures and incitement to crime by the President of the Republic for spreading false and misleading news on strategies to fight the pandemic.

With respect to the PGR’s actions concerning the Covid CPI report, Augusto Aras claims that after analyzing the parliamentary document, 10 secret petitions were forwarded to the STF on officials with jurisdiction before the Supreme Court.

With respect to Bolsonaro, there is a subpoena request for him to explain the investigated facts, including by requesting or submitting new evidence. The measure mentioned by Aras – in this and other facts pointed out by the CPI – was taken within less than 30 days from the receipt of the report.

In the regulatory appeal, Aras argues that the facts mentioned in the proceedings are not related to those established in the fake news inquiry. He said the spread of false information on members of the Court “is not a true representation of the events for which the present investigation was opened and pursued.” According to the Prosecutor, violating jurisdiction rules is to risk the annulment of the investigation process and future evidence of wrongdoing.

The Prosecutor argued that there was no inertia on the part of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), and urged Justice Alexandre de Moraes to reconsider his request to open an investigation and forward the case to the STF Chief Justice for redistribution.

According to Aras, the case should be analyzed by Justice Luís Roberto Barroso, the current rapporteur of the petition investigating Jair Bolsonaro’s conduct as pointed out in the CPI’s final report.