Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press as he leaves the Federal Police headquarters where he gave testimony about his actions related to the Jan. 8 attacks on government buildings in the capital, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023.
Eraldo Peres/AP
RIO DE JANEIRO — A Brazilian congressional panel on Wednesday accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of instigating the country’s Jan. 8 riots and recommended that he be charged with attempting to stage a coup.
An inquiry panel of senators and representatives mostly allied with the current leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in last fall’s election — voted 20-11 to adopt the damning report drafted by Sen. Eliziane Gama.
The move was largely symbolic for Bolsonaro because it amounts to a recommendation for police and prosecutors to investigate, and federal law enforcement officials separately have already been investigating his possible role in inciting the Jan. 8 uprising.
Bolsonaro has denied involvement in the rioting, which took place more than a week after the right-wing leader had quietly left the country to stay in Florida while refusing to attend Lula’s inauguration.
“It’s completely biased,” Bolsonaro said Wednesday of the inquiry, in comments to reporters. “It’s an absurdity.”
One week after Lula took office, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace, refusing to accept his election defeat. They bypassed security barricades, climbed on roofs, smashed windows and invaded the public buildings.
Many observers at the time speculated that…
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