Insider

Brazil’s top prosecutor to revisit Senate Covid investigation

Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet will revisit the final report of the 2021 Senate Covid hearings, which attributed nine crimes to Jair Bolsonaro, including crimes against humanity. Photo: Marcelo Camargo/ABr

Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet has promised to “reassess” the data presented in 2021 by the Senate select committee that investigated the mismanagement of the Covid pandemic by the government of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro.

In an interview this week, Mr. Gonet said his office will “reanalyze what can be achieved,” which includes assessing “what was not done” at the time of the Senate inquiry.

Mr. Gonet took office last month as Brazil’s new prosecutor general. At the time of the Senate inquiry, the job was held by Augusto Aras, an appointee of Mr. Bolsonaro and who was notoriously soft on the past government.

The Senate committee’s report suggested that authorities investigate Mr. Bolsonaro and dozens of others for multiple crimes. The senators recommended that the former president be charged with crimes against humanity, homicide, forgery, and other crimes for bungling Brazil’s response to the pandemic and contributing to the country having the second-highest death toll in the world.

During his administration, Mr. Bolsonaro encouraged the public to form crowds, not wear masks, and not get vaccinated. He also encouraged the use of chloroquine, even after its efficacy against Covid had been disproved. Mr. Bolsonaro also very publicly postponed the purchase of vaccines.

Lawmakers have also presented the charges against Mr. Bolsonaro to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In February 2022, Mr. Aras said the senators had not presented any evidence to support their report. Mr. Bolsonaro was not investigated during his presidency for the crimes identified by the Senate committee, and investigations were, in fact, shelved. Former committee members have advocated that the former president should now be investigated in lower courts.

In 2023, after Mr. Bolsonaro lost his re-election bid, the Superior Electoral Court rendered him ineligible for eight years for spreading electoral disinformation to foreign ambassadors during a meeting at the presidential residence.

A request to investigate Mr. Bolsonaro for crimes related to the pandemic is on the docket of incoming Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino.