Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro mentioned Saturday he was “not afraid of any trial,” a day after paperwork launched by the Supreme Court docket revealed that two prime navy leaders mentioned the populist plotted to stay in energy after shedding the 2022 election.
Bolsonaro averted commenting on the content material of any of a number of investigations focusing on him, however claimed he was a sufferer of “persecution” for inflicting bother for the nation’s political left. Authorities in February confiscated Bolsonaro’s passport.
“I might very properly be overseas, however I made a decision to return again right here in any respect prices. I’m not afraid of any trial, so long as the judges are neutral,” Bolsonaro mentioned in Rio de Janeiro, talking at a marketing campaign occasion within the metropolis’s mayoral race.
The court docket paperwork launched Saturday included testimony from Bolsonaro’s former Military and Air Pressure commanders to police, who mentioned they refused the previous chief’s calls for and would arrest him if he tried to remain in energy.
The testimonies embody the primary direct mentions of the right-wing chief as actively collaborating in a conspiracy to disregard the outcomes of the October 2022 election gained by his rival, present President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
On the identical time the brand new data was revealed, Bolsonaro seemed to be touring to totally different cities in Rio de Janeiro state, posting videos to X, previously Twitter. The embattled politician was featured surrounded by throngs of supporters cheering and carrying Brazil’s yellow soccer jersey, which has became an emblem of his feverish right-wing motion.
The statements solely added to a rising pile of authorized woes for Bolsonaro as prosecutors search to seek out hyperlinks between the far-right chief and the Jan. 8, 2023 riots that trashed authorities buildings within the capital Brasilia one week after Lula’s inauguration.
The correct-wing populist has denied allegations that he and his supporters tried a coup in the course of the 2023 assaults.
The Related Press
