Federal Police, Investigating Fake News, Conduct Raids at Homes of Bolsonaro’s Allies

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The homes of President Jair Bolsonaro’s allies were searched on Wednesday morning during a Federal Police operation in compliance with orders issued by Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes as part of the fake news investigation (inquiry #4,781).

Twenty-nine search and seizure warrants were issued for addresses in the Federal District, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Paraná and Santa Catarina. Blogger Allan dos Santos, from the far-right Terça Livre website, former federal deputy Roberto Jefferson, entrepreneur Luciano Hang, owner of Havan, and Bolsonarist activist Sara Winter were among those visited by federal police.

According to Moraes’ decision, the inquiry is intended to investigate “fraudulent news, false reporting of crimes, slander, threats and other covert violations that undermine the honor and safety of the Federal Supreme Court”.

The justification also mentions the leaks of confidential data to imply the practice of illegal activities in the Court and the ascertainment of existing “financing schemes and mass disclosure on social media, intending to undermine the independence of the Judiciary”.

The document contains depositions of deputies who were part of the government’s support base but left it in recent months, such as Alexandre Frota and Joice Hasselmann.

“The documents and data collected in the records provide serious evidence of the practice of crimes,” says the document, mentioning Allan dos Santos, Bernardo Kuster, Sara Winter, Filipe Barros, Leandro Ruschel, Douglas Garcia and other holders of Bolsonarist profiles, such as @carteiroreaca and @Bolsoneas.

Several posts and WhatsApp conversations are also featured that “point to the real possibility of the existence of a criminal association, named in the deputies’ depositions as the ‘Hate Cabinet’, dedicated to spreading fake news, offensive attacks to various people, authorities and institutions”.

Carla Zambelli, Bia Kicis and Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança, federal deputies who claimed the federal agents had not visited them, are expected to be interviewed by the inquiry over the next ten days.

Moraes believes that the so-called ‘Hate Cabinet’ is being financed “ by a group of entrepreneurs who operate covertly by providing funds (in a variety of ways) to the members of this organization. Consequently, entrepreneurs Luciano Hang and Edgard Corona, owners of Havan and Smart Fit respectively, got in the Federal Police’s sights as potential Bolsonarist sponsors of fake news and other hate discourses.

Sara Winter, a Bolsonarist activist and leader of the paramilitary group supporting the federal government – “Os 300 do Brasil” (Brazil’s 300) – was one of the first to comment on social media. She said that the federal agents had visited her home at around 6 AM and took her cell phone and notebook. “Moraes, you coward, you won’t shut me up!” she published referring to the Justice conducting the investigations.

Later, Winter threatened the justice on video, calling him a “son of a bitch,” and an “asshole,” among other such profanities. “We’ll make your life hell, we’ll find out where you go, we’ll find which housekeepers work for you… until you beg to resign,” exclaimed the “pro-life” activist.

Another target who posted a photo of the search and seizure warrant on Twitter was politician Roberto Jefferson, who had “computers and weapons” seized by the Federal Police, he said.  “Gross, cowardly, bastardly and intimidating attitude, determined by the most unqualified Justice of the Court. CENSURED,” he wrote.

Federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, the President’s son, used an article published in the ‘Gazeta do Povo’ newspaper to argue on his Twitter feed that the investigation conducted by the STF is unconstitutional. His ally in São Paulo, state deputy Douglas Garcia, was one of the targets of the inquiry into the spread of fake news. Garcia argued for himself through a video posted on his social media in which he says that “this level of investigation belittles the Federal Police”.

Federal deputies Carla Zambelli and Bia Kicis, Bolsonaro’s allies, also used Twitter to speak out against the inquiry.

Zambelli criticized the Federal Police and described the investigation as “illegal and unconstitutional” one day after praising the institution and stating that there is no interference with the body, which on Tuesday conducted search and seizure warrants to investigate the overbilling of hospital equipment at the official residence of Wilson Witzel, governor of Rio de Janeiro.

The deputy was accused of leaking the investigation for mentioning it the day before it happened. On Tuesday, when referring to Witzel’s case, Zambelli said “the governor should be more concerned with the case than with a low ranking deputy”. On Wednesday, she changed her tone: “If you applaud an illegal action against your opponent, there is no point in complaining when it turns against you”.

Another Bolsonarist deputy, Filipe Barros, was more direct: “We live under the STF dictatorship. Only the people on the street can stop it,” urged the deputy, also among the Federal Police’s targets. Luciano Hang, Havan’s owner, was visited by federal agents, but took a milder tone than other Bolsonarists.

Through a note and video, Hang defended himself from the accusations, said he never attacked “justices of the Supreme Court or the institution” with fake news, saying he “provided” the authorities with his cell phones and computers.

One of the radical right-wing’s most popular social media figures, Allan dos Santos, a blogger on the Terça Livre website, was one of the last to speak out about the search and seizure warrant. “The STF institution has suffered its greatest attack today,” he wrote on his Twitter, where he also raised the possibility of military intervention.

“Single-handedly, Alexandre de Moraes has demoralized the entire Supreme Court. Either the STF justices stop Alexandre, or only Article 142 [which holds the armed forces responsible for ensuring constitutional powers] can stop them”.

Rey Biannchi, a comedian who has not yet defended himself against the charges, was another to be visited by the Federal Police at the behest of the STF.

Source: El País