PanaTimes

Thursday, Mar 30, 2023

Brazil prepares to seek extradition of Bolsonaro ally from US

Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Bolsonaro’s Justice Minister Anderson Torres, who remains in Florida.
Brazilian authorities have given a former justice minister and ally of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro three days to return to the country or face extradition from the United States, as the government pursues those it says are responsible for a far-right riot in the capital last weekend.

The Brazilian Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Anderson Torres in relation to the riot in Brasilia on January 8, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace to overturn October’s election results.

Torres has denied any wrongdoing and said he would turn himself in to present his defence, but he and Bolsonaro remain in the US state of Florida.

The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which has pledged to investigate those who helped finance and plan the attack on the country’s democratic institutions, said on Friday it had not yet presented a US extradition request for Torres.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino told reporters, however, that “if by next week [Torres’s] appearance hasn’t been confirmed, of course, we will use mechanisms of international legal cooperation. We will trigger procedures next week to carry out his extradition”.

Torres, who was sworn in as Brasilia’s security chief on January 2, was in the US on the day of the riot. But he was removed from his post following the attack as Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is running the investigations into the riot, accused him of “neglect and collusion”.

The violence in Brasilia came just weeks after Lula, who previously served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010, narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in an October election run-off, setting off angry protests and blockades by the former far-right leader’s supporters.

For months, Bolsonaro falsely claimed that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud, raising fears he planned to contest the results. The ex-president’s campaign also led to accusations this week that he helped spur the riot.

Bolsonaro, who left for the US two days before Lula was sworn in as president on January 1, has rejected that criticism. He tweeted on Sunday that a peaceful protest is part of democracy but vandalism and invasion of public buildings are “exceptions to the rule”.

Still, federal prosecutors on Friday asked the Supreme Court to include Bolsonaro on a list of people under investigation after he posted a video “questioning the regularity of the 2022 presidential elections”.

By doing so, “Bolsonaro would have publicly incited the commission of a crime”, the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.

The video was posted two days after the riot and later deleted. But the office said that even though it came after the uprising, it may serve as “a probative connection” that justified “a global investigation of the acts performed before and after January 8, 2023 by the defendant”.

Dino, Brazil’s justice minister, told reporters earlier that no connection has yet been established between the capital riot and Bolsonaro.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s police raided Torres’s home earlier this week, discovering a draft of an order that would have taken control of Brazil’s electoral authority and potentially overturned the election.

The document’s origins remain unclear, and Dino said Torres would need to share information about where it originated.

By failing to initiate a probe against the document’s author or report its existence, Torres could be charged with dereliction of duty, Mario Sergio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors, told The Associated Press news agency.

Torres said on Twitter that the document was probably found in a pile along with others intended for shredding and that it was leaked out of context to feed false narratives aimed at discrediting him.

The federal district’s former governor and former military police chief are also targets of the Supreme Court investigation made public on Friday. Both were removed from their positions after the riot.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanaTimes
Close
0:00
0:00
Don’t Dismiss China’s Peacemaking Bid
China and Brazil have signed a new deal that will allow them to trade in their own currencies, bypassing the US dollar as an intermediary
Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’
Nashville style execution
“We've had evidence prior to the pandemic that masks were largely ineffective at preventing community transmission of influenza “
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz:
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz rejects being labeled a "billionaire"
Jamie Dimon is being deposed over JPMorgan Chase role in Epstein lawsuits
Brand new security footage has just been released to the public showing the Active shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale drove to Covenant Church School in her Honda Fit this morning, parked, and shot her way into the building
AMERICA, 2023
U.S. charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with paying $40 million bribe
Nashville Police release bodycam footage showing officers neutralizing trans shooter of Christian school
Fallen 'Crypto King' Who Owes Millions to Investors Was Kidnapped and Tortured
Regulators blame social media for SVB's rapid collapse: 'Complete game changer'
AOC explains why she opposes banning TikTok
Singapore’s Prime Minister says China and US need to stabilize relations because world can't afford a confict between the two superpowers
Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel Corporation, died at 94
Powell: Silicon Valley Bank was an 'outlier'
Bordeaux town hall set on fire in France pro democracy protest
Police violence in Paris
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
NYPD is setting up barricades outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of Trump arrest.
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
The US government has charged Chinese businessman Guo Wengui with leading a $1 billion fraud scheme that cheated thousands of followers out of their money.
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
"Will Fly Wherever International Law Allows": US Warns Russia After Drone Incident
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
Drew Barrymore
China is calling out the US, UK, and Australia on their submarine pact, claiming they are going further down a dangerous road
A brief banking situation report
Lady bites police officer and gets instantly reaction
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
Senator Tom Cotton: If the Mexican Government Won’t Stop Cartels from Killing Americans, Then U.S. Government Should
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
Silicon Valley Bank: Struggles Threaten Tech Startup Ecosystem"
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
×