Brazil: On the Hunt for Those Who Organized the Riots – Warrant for Bolsonaro’s Justice Minister

Investigations by the authorities are continuing Brazil to find the masterminds of the attack on the government buildings in Brasilia. A Supreme Court judge on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant against Anderson Torres, a former justice minister under Bolsonaro, for complicity in the riots as the capital’s security chief, a position he was removed from after the incidents.

Torres was in the US on Sunday, as was Bolsonaro, who had left Brazil before Lula da Silva was sworn in. Denying any “complicity with the brutality”, Torres said on Twitter yesterday that he would return to Brazil to “appear before justice” and work on his defence.

“We must combat terrorism with vigor, these coup plotters who want to establish a regime of exception,” Supreme Court judge Alejandro de Moraes said yesterday from Brasilia. He also issued an arrest warrant for Fabio Augusto, the commander of Brasilia’s military police, who has also been deposed. According to media reports, Augusto has already been arrested.

Moraes already sacked Brasilia Governor Ibanez Rosa on Sunday, who apologized to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for security “gaps”.

Bolsonaro discharged

In the meantime, the former president of Brazil, Jáich Bolsonaro was released from an Orlando hospital yesterdayin Florida, where he had been admitted on Monday.

Brazilian police released “on humanitarian grounds” nearly 600 people arrested after the attack, while the judiciary prepares to bring charges against those who organized and financed the uprising. Of the roughly 1,500 Bolsonaro supporters arrested after Sunday’s attack, 527 have been taken into custody, authorities said. The Bolsonarians refuse to accept Lula’s election.

From the invasion of the presidential palace, the building of Congress and the Supreme Court in Brasilia –which recalled the storming of the Capitol in Washington two years ago-serious material damage was caused.

Lula: “We will get the country out of hatred and discord”

“Democracy in Brazil remains solid,” Lula tweeted yesterday, calling what happened in Brasilia “acts of terror.” “We will take the country out of hatred and discord,” he added in another message.

At the same time yesterday the Minister of Justice Flavio Dino pointed out that another 50 arrest warrants are to be issued soon.

“Some will concern people who took part in the looting of government buildings and have not been arrested (…). Others will concern persons who were not in Brasilia (…) but are believed to have been involved in the organization and financing” of the riots, the minister explained, speaking to the Globonews television network.

Influencers have created an Instagram account that allows netizens to report those who posted selfies from the riots. This account was followed by more than one million people as of yesterday afternoon.