Former Justice Minister of Bolsonaro arrested for allegedly facilitating attack on Powers in Brasília

The former Minister of Justice of Jair Bolsonaro’s government and former Secretary of Security of Brasília, Anderson Torres, was arrested today, Saturday, accused of facilitating the invasion and damage to the Planalto Palace (seat of the Executive), the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF), in Brasília, last Sunday.

The Federal Police stated that the former official “was arrested upon disembarking at Brasilia International Airport and taken to a detention center where he will remain at the disposal of justice”.

Torres was Minister of Justice during Bolsonaro’s presidency and, since last January 2, had taken over as Secretary of Security of the regional government of Brasilia, responsible for protecting the powers of the federal state.

At the request of the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Police, Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the highest court, on Tuesday ordered the imprisonment of Torres, who was in the city of Orlando, in the United States, where Bolsonaro has been since last December.

Moraes accepted on Friday a request from the prosecutor’s office to include Bolsonaro in the investigations for the assault on the power buildings, taking as an argument a publication of the former president in his Facebook account in which he accused of “fraud” to justice for the victory in the elections of the current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

This week, the Federal Police reported that during a raid on Torres’ house, a draft decree was found to be signed by Bolsonaro before leaving office to intervene with the military to take control of the Superior Electoral Court and annul the elections.

The former minister admitted the existence of such document. Hence, the president decreed the federal intervention in the Security Secretariat of Brasília, and the STF removed from office the governor of the Brazilian capital, Ibanéis Rocha.