President Jair Bolsonaro has finally picked Brazil’s prosecutor general for the next two years: electoral law expert August Aras, who is currently serving as deputy prosecutor general. The appointment had a rare effect, uniting both Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters and his detractors in protest against Mr. Aras, albeit for different reasons.
The president’s supporters fear he will cater to the political class in an attempt to curb the advances of Operation Car Wash—the massive probe started in 2014 which has now reached all major parties. Left-wing observers, on the other hand, fear that Mr. Aras will act to defend the president’s interests, even if it is to the detriment of his legal obligations.
In recent months, Mr. Aras has bent over backwards in his effort to get the nomination. He began presenting himself as a hardcore conservative, defending that landowners who kill trespassers shouldn’t be prosecuted, and saying that the Federal Prosecution Office shouldn’t be an obstacle in the way of economic development.
As Jorge Oliveira,...
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