Insider

Justice blocks Prosecutor General decision to shelve Bolsonaro inquiry

inquiry From the left: Justices Edson Fachin, Alexandre de Moraes, and Chief Justice Luiz Fux. Photo: Carlos Moura/SCO/STF
From the left: Supreme Court Justices Edson Fachin, Alexandre de Moraes, and Chief Justice Luiz Fux. Photo: Carlos Moura/SCO/STF

On Monday, the office of Brazil’s Prosecutor General asked the Supreme Court to dismiss an investigation into President Jair Bolsonaro, accused of leaking confidential information from an ongoing Federal Police probe in August 2021. 

This afternoon, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes rejected this plea, saying the inquiry should continue.

On social media last year, Mr. Bolsonaro published the entirety of a Federal Police investigation into an alleged hacking attempt of Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court in 2018. His objective was to create uncertainty around the electoral system, even though the court itself had confirmed the hacking attempt posed no risk to the election itself.

The request to shelve the inquiry came from Deputy Prosecutor General Lindôra Araújo, who has come under fire recently after calling for the dismissal of a series of cases linked to last year’s Covid inquiry in the Senate.