Prosecutors in Brazil shelved an investigation on Thursday into conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro on charges of “genocide” for his handling of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
The investigation was one of several criminal procedures against the former president launched following his loss in the 2022 presidential election to socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted on spurious charges of attempting to stage a coup following Lula’s election, linking Bolsonaro to a riot that occurred in Brasilia in January 2023 when the ex-president was in the United States. In addition to these two cases, Bolsonaro has faced criminal investigations alleging that he misappropriated valuable jewels gifted to him by the government of Saudi Arabia. He has been the subject of other legal action related to the pandemic including fines for refusing to wear a sanitary mask.
The office of the federal public prosecutor of Brazil announced on Thursday that it would archive an investigation into whether or not Bolsonaro’s handling of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic could be considered an act of “genocide.” The prosecutors stated that the initial complaint was highly politicized and its accusations “generic” rather than pointing to any specific acts Bolsonaro may have committed that would fit the elements of the crime of genocide. The decision to archive the probe followed a request by Federal Prosecutor Luciana Furtado de Moraes.
“From the analysis of the records, this ministerial body finds that there is no reason to initiate criminal prosecution due to the facts,” Furtado de Moraes wrote in the request to archive in late January, according to CNN Brasil, “given that the information presented is nonspecific and generic, lacking minimum documentary evidence to corroborate the complex and comprehensive allegations.”
The request went on to complain that the initial demand for a criminal investigation was composed of “personal reports, subjective evaluations, political perceptions… without, however, presenting individualized facts, minimum elements of materiality or concrete evidence that allow the opening of a criminal investigation.”
President Bolsonaro was a rare outspoken voice against large-scale lockdowns and house arrest protocols popular during the initial spread of the Wuhan coronavirus in 2020. Bolsonaro regularly argued that locking down businesses would do significant damage to Brazil’s economy with no guarantee of any health benefits, dismissed the novel coronavirus as a “little cold,” and discouraged the use of masks. When Bolsonaro himself became ill with the virus, he advocated for the use of chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug not approved to fight coronavirus, to aid with infections, causing outrage among proponents of lockdowns and masks. Bolsonaro was also initially critical of coronavirus vaccine products, though he later effusively thanked the Chinese government for providing its products, which a top Chinese public health official openly stated “don’t have very high protection rates.”
In October 2021, Brazilian leftist lawmakers reportedly planned a motion to charge Bolsonaro with genocide for his handling of the pandemic. According to leaks of the complaint against Bolsonaro, the lawmakers argued, “the decision not to acquire vaccines between the months of July 2020 and at least January 2021, which lacked any technical or scientific basis, and flew in the face of recommendations from international health authorities, ended up claiming the lives of thousands of Brazilians who would undoubtedly have made use of such vaccines.”
That complaint ultimately did not result in any substantial legal action against Bolsonaro. When Bolsonaro went on to lose the 2022 election, however, multiple legal charges emerged against him, among them the pandemic-related “genocide” charges. According to this week’s CNN Brasil report, the charges shelved on Thursday accused him of “involvement with militias, drug trafficking, corruption… poisoning of authorities, political persecution, and attacks on the democratic order.”
The charges that led to his current imprisonment arose in response to the January 8, 2023, riot in Brasilia, which resulted in no serious injuries but significant property damage within the Brazilian Congress, supreme court, and presidential offices. A mob of Bolsonaro supporters, outraged at the judicial intervention that allowed convicted felon Lula to run at all, attacked the heart of the capital. Bolsonaro had traveled to the United States at the time for several engagements, including his first post-presidency remarks at a Turning Point USA event in Florida.
The Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), the nation’s top court, found Bolsonaro guilty of allegedly organizing a coup against Lula and claimed that he had planned to poison the current president. Bolsonaro was also banned from running for any public office until 2060, when he will be 105 years old.
Shortly after his conviction on “coup” charges, another Brazilian court found Bolsonaro guilty of “recreational racism,” an apparent crime, for a joke he made to a black supporter of his that the supporter stated he did not find offensive. Bolsonaro was forced to pay a $188,750 fine.
In September, also following his conviction, STF Justice Flávio Dino opened a new investigation into Bolsonaro related to the coronavirus pandemic. While not explicitly accusing him of genocide, Dino claimed that alleged irregular practices as president made Bolsonaro potentially guilty of irregular use of public funds, spreading an epidemic, and “crimes against humanity.” As the STF is a court and not a prosecutorial arm, it can recommend charges but not charge an individual with a crime.
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