Brazil’s Bolsonaro is indicted for 1st time over alleged falsification of his vaccination status
SAO PAULO — On Tuesday, Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, was legally charged with fabricating his COVID-19 immunization record. This is the first indictment against the troubled far-right figure, and there may be more accusations to come.
Bolsonaro and sixteen accomplices allegedly entered fake data into a public health database to make it seem as though the then-president, his daughter, twelve, and a few other people in his social circle had received the COVID-19 vaccination, according to the federal police indictment made public by the Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro and his assistants altered their vaccination records in order to “issue their respective (vaccination) certificates and use them to cheat current health restrictions,” according to the report written by police detective Fábio Alvarez Shor, who also signed the indictment.
“The inquiry discovered numerous instances of utilizing fraudulent documents, as well as multiple false insertions between November 2021 and December 2022,” Shor continued.
Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp, Mauro Cid, told detectives the former president requested him to enter the fictitious data for himself and his daughter into the system, the detective stated in the indictment. Cid added that he personally gave Bolsonaro the immunization certificates.
Bolsonaro was among the few international politicians to criticize the vaccine during the pandemic. He publicly disregarded health regulations and urged other Brazilians to do the same. His government turned down many proposals from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to supply Brazil with tens of millions of injections in 2020, and he publicly denounced the governor of Sao Paulo state for purchasing vaccinations from Sinovac, a Chinese business, when there were no more doses available.
The ultimate decision about whether to utilize the indictment to bring charges against Bolsonaro before the Supreme Court will be made by the prosecutor-general’s office in Brazil. The case is the result of multiple investigations that were directed at Bolsonaro, the president from 2019 to 2022.
Bolsonaro’s attorney, Fábio Wajngarten, described the indictment against his client as “absurd” and claimed he was unaware of it.
“He was totally excused from having to present any form of certificate when traveling while serving as president. According to Wajngarten, this is an attempt to undermine the massive political capital that has only increased via political persecution.
Questioned in May 2023, the former president denied any misconduct.
Bolsonaro was beaten by Gleisi Hoffmann, the chairperson of the Workers’ Party, who welcomed his indictment on social media. She expressed her wish that the former president is put on trial in numerous other matters, such as his purported effort to smuggle $3 million worth of diamond jewelry into the nation and the selling of two opulent watches that he was given as presents from Saudi Arabia.
“He has lied about his evil regime up until this point, but the truth will now have to be faced in court. This is just the first of several indictments that the federal police have handed to prosecutors, according to Hoffmann. “Big Coward, what’s up now? Will you confront this or flee to Miami?
Bolsonaro’s passport has already been taken by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
A few months before Bolsonaro visited the United States in December 2022—two months after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated him in his quest for reelection—police charge him and his assistants of manipulating the health ministry’s database.
To enter the United States, Bolsonaro need a vaccination certificate. He stayed there for the last few days of his tenure and the first few months of Lula’s. The former president has stated time and time again that he has not received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Legal analyst Zilan Costa estimates that the 68-year-old politician may serve as little as two years in prison or as long as twelve years if found guilty of fabricating health records. According to him, a criminal association charge carries a potential four-year prison sentence.
In this situation, Bolsonaro will contend whether or not he himself inserted the data or made it possible for others to do so. And that’s all there is to it.
In order to ascertain “whether those under investigation did make use of the false vaccination certificates upon their arrival and stay in American territory,” Shor added that he is expecting information from the US Justice Department.
If so, Bolsonaro might face additional accusations. Shor did not indicate the nation she was writing from.
The indictment provides fresh insight on a Senate committee investigation that concluded in October 2021 and recommended Bolsonaro face nine criminal charges on the grounds that he mishandled the outbreak. Subsequently, Augusto Aras, the prosecutor general, who was perceived by many as a Bolsonaro loyalist, refused to advance the case.
Paulo Gonet, Aras’ successor, was reportedly set to meet with lawmakers later on Tuesday to explore the prospect of bringing charges, according to Brazilian media.
The demonstration in support for Bolsonaro last month, when an estimated 185,000 people jammed Sao Paulo’s main boulevard to protest what they and the former president perceive to be political persecution, demonstrated the steadfast loyalty of his supporters to him.
According to Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo, the indictment won’t deter his supporters; rather, it will just confirm their suspicions.
Melo stated, “It is unquestionably worse for him in court.” “He might be starting a pattern of convictions followed by an arrest.”
Bolsonaro was previously declared ineligible to run for office again until 2030 by Brazil’s highest electoral court due to his misuse of power during the 2022 campaign and his unwarranted worries about the nation’s electronic voting system.
His suspected role in the Jan. 8, 2023, insurrection in Brasilia, just after Lula became power, is the subject of another investigation. The rebellion was similar to the riot in Washington, D.C.’s US Capitol two years earlier. In both situations, Bolsonaro has denied any misconduct.
According to Shor, the indictment will be incorporated into the Jan. 8 probe under Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Court. The indictment was allowed to be unsealed by that justice.