Of the 1,459 detainees for the coup acts on January 8, in which a mob of supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the headquarters of the three powers in Brasiliaat least 45 were candidates for public office during the elections held in the last decade, according to a report published by the local press.
The Supreme Court of Brazil has decreed indefinite preventive detention for 140 of the detainees, while the former Minister of Justice Anderson Torresimprisoned for his alleged responsibility in the assault of the hordes bolsonaristashas remained silent during the first interrogation to which the authorities have submitted him this Wednesday.
The list of former candidates arrested
The Social Liberal Party (PSL) and the Liberal Party (PL), acronyms under which Bolsonaro ran for the 2018 and 2022 presidential elections, are the formations that most hosted the candidacies of those detained for these violent acts, according to a compilation by the newspaper or globe based on the information of the detainees disclosed by the prison services of Brasilia, collated with that of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
The PSL, which merged with democrats in 2022 to create Union Brazilis the formation with the largest number of former candidates, with six participants in the 2018 and 2022 elections to be councilors and even federal deputies.
The PL, Bolsonaro’s current party, follows him with four detainees, tied with Patriot. Of those 45 candidates, six ran in the last elections, all without success and in some cases with paltry numbers that barely exceeded 600 votes. 2020 was the year with the greatest presence of candidacies among those detained today, with 26.
All of them coincide in having campaigned using social networks to repeat the attacks on Bolsonaro’s institutions, especially aiming darts at the Supreme Court judge, Alexander de Moraesone of the leading figures in this political crisis for his rulings against the assailants.
One of the candidates Tatiane da Silva Marqueshe even published on his social networks a series of videos of the moment in which the Bolsonarista followers were taken to a gym in the Federal Police in Brasiliaon the day after the invasion of the three headquarters.
Preventive prison for 140 detainees
While Justice continues to advance, Magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, instructor of the case, has determined that 140 of those detained at the moment will go to the preventive detention regime, a precautionary measure that does not stipulate a term for a sentence, with the objective of “guarantee public order“.
The 140 implicated for their participation in “acts of terrorism” Y “destruction of public property” They will answer in jail for the crimes of “criminal association, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and coup d’état”. They were also charged with “threat, persecution and incitement to crimeAccording to a statement from the Supreme federal court (STF). Next Friday the situation of the other 1,259 people who remain in detention will be determined.
Another 60 people who were detained have obtained provisional release in response to precautionary measures requested by their lawyers, but They will continue to respond to the courts. for the same accusations. Those benefited from provisional release must, in addition, surrender their passportsappear weekly before the authorities, carry a electronic anklet to be monitored and will not be able to leave their cities of residence.
Bolsonaro’s former minister refuses to testify
In the framework of the investigation against him for the alleged collusion and omission of duties during the assault by Bolsonaro’s followers, the former Secretary of Security of Brasilia, Anderson Torres, has refused to testify before the Federal Police. Anderson, who was also the last Minister of Justice in the Bolsonaro government, has assured that he had no statements to offer and just over an hour later the hearing held at the facilities of the Military Police in Guaraone of the administrative regions of the federal District.
Torres, who has been detained since last Saturday after arriving at Brazil since USAis being investigated for crimes of terrorism, coup and criminal organization for the acts that occurred in the Esplanade of the Ministriesof which he has already denied any type of involvement.
“I deeply regret that absurd hypotheses of any type of collusion with the atrocities we are witnessing are being issued,” the official tweeted, adding that solutions must be sought “consistent with the importance of the brazilian democracy“.
Since his entry into prison, Torres has received psychological treatment, according to sources consulted by the Brazilian press, after finding him dejected on the ground and without understanding why he was arrested. Because of his position, Torres was the maximum person in charge of guaranteeing the integrity of the buildings audiences that were invaded by the followers of the far-right ex-president in Brasilia.
In addition, last week the Federal Police found a draft of a decree at Torres’ house to deny the result of the elections that consecrated Lula da Silva. Torres himself admitted the existence of the document that “was to be opportunely crushed in the ministry“.
