Brazil’s Electoral Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday asked for the conviction of former President Jair Bolsonaro on the first day of the trial that would leave him ineligible for eight years, while the defense argued only a meeting with diplomats is at stake.
The trial continues next Tuesday with the vote of the seven judges of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) as the defense, prosecution and prosecution have been heard today.
The action, which has been confirmed by the Electoral Public Ministry, alleges that Bolsonaro abused political power and misused the media during a meeting the then Brazilian head of state organized with foreign ambassadors at the Alvorada Palace in the middle of the election campaign, the President’s official residence in Brasilia, on July 18, 2022.
“The intent was clearly electoral. The candidate took advantage of his functional situation as President of the Republic to spread news known to be contrary to the truth, in order to gain the attention and approval of voters. The use of the public office for advantage is characterized by improper election”said the deputy electoral attorney general, Paulo Gonet Branco, at the plenary session of the TSE.
During this meeting, the then president launched several baseless attacks on the reliability of the electoral process and more specifically on the electronic ballot boxes used and validated by various international bodies since 1996, and the same ones that elected him for several terms of office federal deputy and president.
Bolsonaro said in front of about 40 ambassadors from the most diverse countries, including Portugal, unfounded that the system could be the target of fraud and would be unverifiable, insinuating that it was a company that counted the votes and not the TSE and also said, without any evidence that a ‘hacker’ had accessed “everything within the TSE”.
In the move by the Democratic Workers’ Party (PDT) against the body that controls the entire electoral process in the country, the party is asking that former President Jair Bolsonaro and his candidate for Vice President Walter Souza Braga Neto be declared ineligible.
However, Paulo Gonet Branco returned today to defend the acquittal of General Walter Braga Neto.
On the other hand, Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyer believed that what is at stake in the trial that started at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) is not “bolsonarismo”, but a meeting with foreign ambassadors.
“Bolsonarianism is not on trial, as people like to believe, we are not mediating an imaginary bloody dispute between civilization and barbarism,” said Tarcísio Vieira de Carvalho in the TSE tribune.
Earlier, the lawyer who represented the prosecution in the trial that could cost former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro his political rights said he should be found guilty of electoral crimes and attempted coup.
“Systematic attacks on democracy, especially on ministers. What a sad scene in our history. To this Court and the STF [Supremo Tribunal Federal]. A clear attempt at a military coup, a coup,” lawyer Walber Agra said in the plenary of the TSE.
The trial took place in a calm environment and at the entrance there were no demonstrations, neither against nor for the former head of state of Brazil.
Jair Bolsonaro was not present at court and while the trial was taking place, he traveled to the state of Porto Alegre for a two-day political agenda.
Source: DN
