The Superior Electoral Court will rule this Tuesday evening on whether or not to admit into evidence a draft of a putschist decree found in the home of Jair Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, Anderson Torres. The document could have been used in an attempt to overturn the 2022 presidential election.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers argue the document is “apocryphal,” adding that neither he nor Mr. Torres signed it. Found during a Federal Police search and seizure operation at Mr. Torres’s home, the draft decree would have placed the electoral courts under a state of emergency and created a committee with powers to nullify the presidential election results — which would be blatantly unconstitutional.
Mr. Torres admitted to having the document at home, but said it was “probably” handed to him by a private citizen. He turned himself in to the police last month and is currently in jail while his role in the January 8 riots — at...