First conviction requests for financial damages in January 8 riots

Brazil’s Solicitor General’s Office on Friday requested that a civil court convict 54 people and five companies to pay a total of BRL 20.7 million (USD 4 million) in damages to federal property caused during the January 8 riots, during which pro-Jair Bolsonaro protesters stormed and ransacked the buildings housing all three branches of government.

Previously, a federal court froze an initial BRL 6.5 million (USD 1.2 million) in assets belonging to people and companies that subsidized buses transporting the pro-Bolsonaro demonstrators to Brasília.

The cost of property damages can still increase during the course of the lawsuit.

A large portion of the list of people and companies in the new petition coincides with those who had their assets frozen last month. According to the Solicitor General’s Office, the ongoing investigation provided evidence that some of those mentioned in the original petition were not actually involved in the riots. 

Also, “some of those initially identified as defendants […] clarified who were the real contractors/charterers of the buses used to transport people,” the attorneys wrote.

This is the first request presented to convict January 8 rioters, though still in a civil rather than criminal capacity.

Some of the works of art damaged by the riots, however, may be irrecoverable. The Embassy of Switzerland has offered technical support to repair the Balthazar Martinot clock, a 17th-century pendulum that was gifted to Brazilian Emperor Dom João VI by the French Court.

• #justice
• #violence