Bolsonaro required to explain military intervention draft decree

Electoral Court Justice Benedito Gonçalves yesterday (Jan. 16) gave former President Jair Bolsonaro three days to explain a draft decree found in the home of his ex-minister of Justice and Public Safety, Anderson Torres. The text outlines a military intervention at the Superior Electoral Court headquarters.

The move comes as Justice Gonçalves’s response to a motion from the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) and incorporates the draft into the evidence used in a probe targeting Bolsonaro over his possible abuse of political power during the election campaign.

The motivation behind the lawsuit was a meeting with ambassadors in which the onetime president showed untrue or incomplete information about the Brazilian elections while he was still president. The PDT argued that the draft decree ordering an intervention at the Electoral Court is relevant to the case, as it reinforces that Bolsonaro intended to take power by force if he lost the elections.

The party stated that the draft is the “embryo of a coup d’état” and serves to “strengthen arguments on abuse of political power aimed at discrediting both this Electoral Court and the electoral process, in order to change the outcome of the election.”

Justice Gonçalves agreed with the arguments and said there is “unequivocal correlation between the facts and the new documents.” The material adds to the narrative according to which Bolsonaro sought to keep the idea of fraud and intervention on the electoral result alive among his allies, said the authority.

The draft declares state of defense, with the intervention of the Armed Forces at the Electoral Court building in Brasília. According to the text, to be signed by Bolsonaro, an electoral board would be assembled to guarantee the fairness of the electoral process. This type of intervention by one branch over another is not allowed by the Constitution.

In his defense, Torres said the document was leaked and is “out of context,” adding that it was found in a pile of papers set for disposal. The draft decree was found during the execution of a search and seizure order at his residence, authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Torres, who is also erstwhile Public Safety Secretary of the Federal District, is being detained at Military Police facilities in the Federal District, also by order of Justice Moraes. He has come under investigation over the alleged omission and connivance with the pro-coup riots of January 8, when vandals stormed and ransacked the National Congress, the Planalto presidential palace, and the Supreme Court.