The essentials After losing the presidential election in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is once again a simple opponent in the process. As the target of several court investigations, he could well end up in prison…
“I have three options for the future: be locked up, be dead or win,” Jair Bolsonaro had launched in August 2021, more than a year before his loss to Lula in the presidential election this Sunday, April 30. October. You can be sure that the first option (prison) does not exist,” the far-right president explained during a meeting with evangelicals. However, the analysts consulted by AFP believe that this risk of imprisonment is very real, even if the process could take years.
Since the beginning of his tenure, President Bolsonaro has been the target of multiple investigations, notably for disinformation, and more than 150 impeachment requests, most related to his management of the Covid-19 crisis that has left at least 685,000 dead in Brazil.
These threats to reduce his mandate were rebuffed by two key allies: Attorney General Augusto Aras, who refrained from formally indicting the head of state, and Chamber of Deputies President Arthur Lira, who refused to pursue impeachment requests.
But from January 1, the situation changes: if Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is appointed to the top position, Jair Bolsonaro will lose his immunity as president. He can then be judged by courts of first instance and not only by the Supreme Court.
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Sealed documents could prove incriminating
The Brazilian judiciary is already deeply interested in the affairs of the Bolsonaro family. At the end of 2020, prosecutors filed charges against the president’s eldest son, Flavio Bolsonaro, now a senator, for embezzlement and money laundering. He was suspected of “rachadinha,” when state-paid employees of an elected official’s office donate part of their salary to their employer. The case was finally dropped last May after a higher court found the inquiry had violated his parliamentary immunity by, among other things, lifting his banking secrecy.
But a series of reports from news site Uol showed that prosecutors had strong leads suggesting the practice of “rachadinha” was widespread in the Bolsonaro family, including in Jair, who was an MP 27 years before he took office. “When the President’s mandate ends, Jair Bolsonaro will be able to respond to general justice and the public prosecutor’s office will be able to launch new investigations,” assures lawyer Rogério Dultra dos Santos of the Federal University of Fluminense.
A “political persecution”?
The president has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has said he is a victim of “political persecution,” including as Uol recently revealed members of his family had purchased a total of 51 properties from 1990 to 2022, paid in whole or part in cash for an amount of nearly $4 .8 million euros.
During his 100-year tenure, President Bolsonaro sealed a multitude of official or personal documents that could prove compromising. “Lula has already promised that if he is elected he will grant access to these documents. If he does that, there could be legal consequences,” said Rogério Dultra dos Santos, a member of the Brazilian Association of Advocates for Democracy (ABHD). . . These documents could contain, for example, revelations about interventions by evangelical ministers in the budget of the Ministry of Education.
However, Rogerio Dultra dos Santos stresses that the trials “could take several years”, with multiple appeals delaying any possibility of imprisonment.