Lula allies ask Supreme Court to arrest Bolsonaro

Lawmakers from the left-wing Socialism and Freedom Party (Psol) on Monday petitioned Brazil’s Supreme Court to issue an arrest warrant against former President Jair Bolsonaro. They also asked the court to retain his passport and greenlight an investigation into his responsibility for anti-democratic demonstrations carried out by far-right militants. 

The petition is signed by all eight members of the Psol House bench in the outgoing legislature. The party’s chairman and newly elected lawmakers who take office on February 1 also signed the document.

The petition was submitted in relation to an inquiry into “digital militias,” the name given to organizations that spread misinformation online. The request is based on the fact that putschist demonstrations grew more radical after the October 30 runoff, when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated Mr. Bolsonaro in the tightest election in Brazil’s recent history.

Psol lawmakers say Mr. Bolsonaro prepared and incited “anti-democratic and terrorist acts” committed by his supporters, including by never publicly conceding the election.

Police arrested a man on Christmas Eve for setting up a bomb that was planted near the Brasília airport. The man, George Washington Sousa, told police of his intent to incite “chaos” and create the conditions for Brazil to be placed under a state of siege — a situation in which constitutional guarantees are suspended, and the president is granted emergency powers. 

Bolsonaro supporters had set up campsites near Army garrisons in the hopes of keeping him in power through a military coup that never came.

Last week, local police in Brasília told a press conference that an operation to dislodge demonstrators from a putschist camp set up in a military area was interrupted at the Army’s request. After the inauguration, many of the demonstrators began to disband.

“The Bolsonaro administration deliberately created a huge mass of heavily-armed people who do not accept the result of the last elections,” the lawmakers wrote to the Supreme Court. They also referenced the dozens of regulations enacted during the Bolsonaro years that loosen gun controls — which led to a massive surge in new gun registrations in the country.

Jair Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on December 30. Out of the country, he did not participate in the transition of power.

As a former president, Mr. Bolsonaro is entitled to up to eight aides paid by the state. An ordinance authorized a security detail to follow him to the U.S. until January 30. It remains unclear when or whether the former president intends to return to Brazil.

Separately, Justice Minister Flávio Dino on Tuesday said on Twitter he will place the Federal Police at the disposal of the Supreme Court to investigate episodes of aggression against the justices. On Monday, Justice Luís Roberto Barroso was harassed by Brazilians at Miami airport.

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