Pro-Bolsonaro fugitive risks turning supporters into accomplices

Brazil’s Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant last week for Allan dos Santos, one of the country’s most prominent far-right bloggers and a firm ally of President Jair Bolsonaro. He is accused of operating a highly profitable misinformation network on social media, suspected to involve donations of public money. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes also noted that there is evidence Mr. Santos “colluded with people who had direct involvement in the [January 6] Capitol riots” in the U.S., suggesting he was plotting a similar attack on Brazilian soil.

Set to have his name included on Interpol’s red list, the far-right blogger has had his bank accounts frozen, forbidding the receipt of any financial transactions. However, while being a fugitive from justice in the U.S., Mr. Santos set up a website to receive donations in dollars, potentially turning his followers into accomplices.

Assisting a fugitive is a crime in both Brazil and the U.S. — in the former, it carries a jail sentence of one to six months and a fine. And while the legislation does not explicitly state that financial donations to a fugitive are considered assistance, it is likely to be interpreted that way in court.

Criminal lawyer Débora Nachmanowicz tells The Brazilian Report that individuals donating to Mr. Santos’s cause may be held criminally responsible if prosecutors can...