Jair Bolsonaro faces long-term ban from politics Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stared into the political abyss on Tuesday when a federal judge voted to bar him from running for public office.
In the first of seven sentences in a case that could see the former president out of politics until at least 2030, Judge Benedito Gonçalves, lead judge on the case , found Bolsonaro guilty of abuse of office and misuse of public media.
Brazil's highest electoral tribunal is trying the far-right former president for a televised meeting he held with foreign diplomats in July 2022 — three months before his electoral defeat by the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — in which Bolsonaro made unsubstantiated allegations of security flaws in Brazil's e-voting system.
The 68-year-old Bolsonaro faces an eight-year ban from running for public office if found guilty of abuse of office and misuse of state media.
The trial resumed late on Tuesday, with six other judges expected to soon follow Judge Goncalves to deliver their rulings.
Local media reports that the court will almost certainly convict Bolsonaro, who last week missed the first court session in Brasilia to meet supporters and attend events in the southern city of Porto Alegre.
“Everything. says that I am considered unfit, ”Bolsonaro admitted in an interview with the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.
«I'm not going to give up hope…I'm going to continue on my part,» he added.
Mr. Bolsonaro remains a popular and divisive figure in Brazil.
Benedito Gonçalves, chief judge in the case, found Bolsonaro guilty of abuse of office. Credit: GETTY IMAGES
Attorney for former President Tarcisio Vieira said on Tuesday his client «respectfully awaits the decision.»
Speaking to reporters before entering the courtroom, Mr. Vieira said the evidence was «fragile for a sanction of this magnitude.»
Mr. Bolsonaro's lawyer had previously said that if necessary, he would to the Supreme Court. Court.
At a meeting with diplomats in July 2022, Bolsonaro spent nearly an hour presenting his case to the assembled ambassadors.
Armed with a PowerPoint presentation, but with no hard evidence to support his claim, he argued that the electronic voting machines used by Brazil since 1996 compromised the transparency of the elections.
Prosecutors said the event violated the law about the election, given that it was organized with public funds, took place at the official presidential residence and was broadcast live on public television in the midst of a polarizing election campaign.
Bolsonaro's supporters invaded the presidential palace, the Congress and the Supreme Court on 8 January. Photo: REUTERS
The briefing «was aimed at giving the false impression that the voting process was unclear, rigged to manipulate the results and award a fraudulent victory to (his) opponent,» prosecutor Paulo Gone Branco said at an opening hearing last week.< /p>
He linked the former president's statements to post-election unrest, when Bolsonaro's supporters invaded the presidential palace, the Congress and the Supreme Court on January 8, a week after President Lula's inauguration.
Mr. Bolsonaro denied the accusations.
Both Bolsonaro's unsubstantiated talk of electoral fraud and the January 8 riots have sparked widespread comparisons to his political role model, Donald Trump, and the latter's drive to stay in power after his defeat in the 2020 US presidential election. elections.
Mr Bolsonaro, who spent three months in the United States after his term expired, has maintained an uncharacteristically low profile since returning to Brazil in March to serve as honorary president of his Liberal Party.
p>
He faces a host of other legal challenges, from five Supreme Court investigations that could land him in jail, including the January 8 attacks, to a police investigation into allegations of a fake Covid-19 vaccination certificate and a diamond certificate. jewelry made its way into the country from Saudi Arabia.
Свежие комментарии