Week after week, the police and legal siege is intensifying around former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost power and immunity 13 months ago. Federal police are investigating his son Carlos, 41, a city councilor in Rio de Janeiro, in a case of illegal espionage by Brazilian intelligence during his father's administration, Portal confirmed on Monday. The investigators are tasked with searching his house and his official office; They suspect that the mayor and digital strategist of the Bolsonaro clan was one of the recipients of the information collected without judicial authorization. The patriarch and leader of the Brazilian right believed it was so crucial to the unexpected victory in 2018 that Carlos was the only one of the five children who accompanied him in the Rolls Royce on Inauguration Day.
The registered residences include a summer chalet where Bolsonaro Sr. spends his holidays in Angra do Rei, near Rio. He and his children spent Sunday there together. When the police arrived this morning, neither of them was in the house; they had gone fishing together at dawn, according to the family's lawyer.
This Monday's police operation is a continuation of last week's police operation. The main target was Alexandre Ramagem, who was head of the Brazilian secret service (ABIN) under Bolsonaro. Ramallo was a police commissioner before entering politics. Today he is an MP and is close to Carlos Bolsonaro. The main allegation in the case is that the secret service used the Israeli software “First Mile” to infect phones and monitor around 30,000 people, including authorities and ordinary citizens who were viewed as political opponents by the then far-right president and Bolsonarism .
Police said in a statement released this morning that the eight search warrants are now focused on “advancing the political core and identifying the main recipients and beneficiaries of the information illegally produced in ABIN.” The statement does not mention Bolsonaro Jr. or any of the other suspects.
For years, Carlos has been at the center of another case investigated by the Supreme Court about the so-called Cabinet of Hate. While his father was head of state, the councilor had an office in the presidential palace, where he acted as a kind of propaganda minister. Police suspect that from there he spread false information and disinformation to attack his father's rivals and anyone considered inconvenient and traitors by Bolsonarism. He has always declared himself innocent.
The accusations against Carlos, Bolsonaro's second son, come just a few hours after he and his three political sons, Senator Flávio, councilor Carlos and deputy Eduardo, appeared this Sunday evening in a live broadcast on YouTube, which marked the start of the Local elections were held in October. The Bolsonaros are recruiting supporters to take online courses to prepare for the election, which will see a fight between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro, who remains opposition leader even though judges have barred him from running until 2030.
Lawmakers close to the Bolsonaros have come to defend the leader's second son. They accuse the police of pursuing the Bolsonaros in order to silence them.
The former president's inner circle is the subject of police and legal interests on various fronts. Two other sons of Bolsonaro, Senator Flávio and Renan, who is not a politician, were identified by investigators in the first phase of this operation. The first because he used the secret service to prepare his defense in a court case, the second because he used it to interfere in investigations. In addition, in Brasilia, a former justice minister and the soldier who was his shadow as personal secretary for four years are under house arrest for the attack on the three powers.
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