Brazilian Senators Drop Demand For Homicide Charges Against Bolsonaro

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro could face charges of crimes against humanity in light of allegations relating to reckless mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigations by the senate has led to a recommendation to charge Bolsonaro with at least 10 crimes that have been officially docked in a report that was presented last Wednesday.

In the report, Brazilian lawmakers accused the leader of charlatanism, irregular use of funds, social rights violations, prevarication, falsification of documents and incitement to crime. These all come alongside charges of crimes against humanity for his continued violations of preventive sanitary measures that resulted in thousands of deaths in the country.

According to CNN, this is a first in Brazil’s history where a parliamentary commission inquiry (CPI) has laid out an extensive list of accusations against its president. Leaked reports acquired by CNN Brasil revealed there were original recommendations to also charge Bolsonaro with mass homicide, however senators withdrew the allegations.

Included in the final report are Bolsonaro’s three sons along with Health ministers Eduardo Pazuello and Marcelo Queiroga as well as defense minister Walter Braga Netto who have all been listed under its recommendations to face charges on several alleged crimes.

A vote on the final report is expected to take place next week and if the recommendations get approval, the report will be passed on to Attorney-General Augusto Aras, a known ally of Bolsonaro. In a statement, Aras said the report would be carefully analyzed once it’s received. But analysts say it is still unclear if Aras would press charges despite having legal grounds to pursue them. Any measures drawn up by the Attorney-General will be announced within a 30-day period.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro openly criticized the CPI’s final report during an inauguration ceremony for an infrastructure project. He strongly reiterated that he is not guilty of such alleged crimes citing how the commission’s report is counter productive.

While the report awaits approval, CPI rapporteur Renan Calheiros also pushed for the submission of the report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for it to further look into the accusations against Bolsonaro. At the same time, CPI president Se. Omar Aziz announced that allegations of genocide were also dropped from the report due to a lack of consensus.

"They want to accuse me of genocide. Now, tell me in what country people have not died? This CPI has no credibility," Bolsonaro said.