Probe sought of Brazil's Bolsonaro for Jan 8 riots

Brazilian authorities moved Friday to investigate far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro for "instigation and intellectual authorship" of the Jan 8 sacking of government buildings in Brasilia.

Seeking permission from the Supreme Court to add Bolsonaro to the suspect list, the office of the prosecutor general (PGR) cited a video he had posted "questioning the regularity of the 2022 presidential elections."

By doing so, "Bolsonaro would have publicly incited the commission of a crime," the PGR said in a statement.

The video was posted two days after the violent storming of the presidency, Congress and Supreme Court by supporters of Bolsonaro, and later deleted.

The PGR explained that even though the video came after the uprising, it may serve as "a probative connection" that justified "a global investigation of the acts performed before and after Jan 8, 2023 by the defendant."

Thousands of so-called "bolsonaristas" invaded the seats of government in Brasilia Sunday, breaking windows and furniture, destroying priceless works of art, and leaving graffiti messages calling for a military coup in their wake.

Bolsonaro had for years sought to cast doubts on the reliability of Brazil's internationally praised election system, and had suggested he would not accept a defeat.

He never publicly acknowledged Lula's victory, and left for the United States two days before his successor's inauguration.

'Collusion' 

As they move to identify the masterminds and financiers of the violent uprising that invited many parallels with the Jan 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol, Brazilian authorities on Friday also tightened the screws on a former Bolsonaro minister.

Anderson Torres, who was Bolsonaro's last justice minister, is wanted under a Supreme Court warrant for alleged "collusion" with the rioters.

He also stands accused of "omission" in his most recent job as security chief for the capital Brasilia which was the target of the destructive ire of protesters.

He was fired after the violent revolt against leftist new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Like his former boss Bolsonaro, Torres was in the US when the riots erupted, and is expected back in Brazil any day.

Lula's new Justice Minister Flavio Dino, who replaced Torres, said Friday the authorities would give Torres until Monday to present himself.

If he fails to show up, "through international mechanisms, we will launch the procedures for extradition next week, since there is an arrest warrant," Dino told reporters in the capital.

Law professor Mario Schapiro of Brazil's Getulio Vargas Foundation told AFP Bolsonaro would risk arrest only if the Supreme Court agrees to declare him a suspect and his continued freedom is deemed a risk for the investigation.

"At the moment there are no grounds to seek his extradition" from the US, Schapiro said.

'State of defence' 

The minister also confirmed the discovery at Torres' home of a draft decree proposing emergency steps for the possible "correction" of the October election that Bolsonaro lost to Lula by a razor-thin margin.

The undated and unsigned draft bears Bolsonaro's name at the bottom, but Dino said the authorship was unknown.

Published in the Folha de S Paulo newspaper late Thursday, the document foresees the creation of an election "regulation commission" to take over the electoral oversight functions of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

The aim, it said, would be "the preservation or immediate restoration of transparency and correction of the 2022 presidential electoral process."

It was not clear whether the document was drawn up before or after Bolsonaro's defeat.

Dino said the document connected some of the dots between Lula's October 30 election victory and the Jan 8 riots.

It was, he added, a "fundamental element for understanding cause and effect," a "missing link between a succession of events, showing that they were not isolated. And yes, that there was... a plan."

Torres said on Twitter the document was "likely" part of a pile of papers at his home that were destined to be destroyed.

He said the contents of the draft had been taken "out of context" to "feed false narratives" against him.

Both Bolsonaro and Torres have denied involvement in the riots.

Clamoring for a coup 

Dino on Friday repeated Lula's accusations of security force involvement in the Jan 8 uprising.

"We are dealing with a network of which we do not yet know the extent, of public security agents who unfortunately participated, voluntarily or by omission" in the riots, he said.

Investigations were continuing into who masterminded and financed the uprising, as police also pursue the search for more rioters.

More than 2,000 were detained after the riotous events, for which the full extent of the damage is still being calculated.