UPDATE 3-Brazil top court to investigate Bolsonaro role in Brasilia riots

(Adds Supreme Court accepting prosecutors’ request)

By Ricardo Brito

BRASILIA (Reuters), Jan 13 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court has agreed to open an investigation into Jair Bolsonaro, former President of Brazil. He is accused of encouraging anti-democratic protests which ended in the storming and destruction of government buildings by his supporters.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes agreed to federal prosecutors’ request to open the probe.

Bolsonaro is currently in the United States and will be investigated by the prosecutors for “instigation” and “intellectual authorship” of the anti-democratic acts which resulted in violence and vandalism in Brasilia last Sunday, according to a statement from the top public prosecutor’s Office.

Bolsonaro had already been ordered to arrest Anderson Torres, the former justice minister of Brazil, for allowing the protests in the Brazilian capital. This was after he assumed responsibility over Brasilia’s public security.

Last weekend, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacked the Supreme Court, Congress, and the presidential palace in an attempt to create chaos and a military coup to overthrow President LuizInacio Lula da Silva. This would have the effect of restoring the far-right leader to power.

Bolsonaro lost Brazil’s October election defeat to Lula and fled Brazil for the United States just before the end of his term. He avoided passing the presidential sash on to his leftist opponent at his inauguration.

Bolsonaro was in Florida when Torres spoke out, stating that he would like to go back to Brazil to hand himself in. Bolsonaro stated on social media that he would continue his return to Brazil.

Flavio Dino, Justice Minister said at a news conference that he would wait to reevaluate Torres’ case until next week. He indicated that if the former minister is not turned in, an attempt to request his extradition may be made. De Moraes issued the arrest warrant for Torres. He removed Brasilia’s security chief from his position just hours after the rampage.

Police found a draft of a decree at Torres’ home on Thursday. It appeared to be an attempt to influence the outcome of the election. Torres claimed that the document was part of a stack being thrown out. He claimed that they were “leaked to Folha de S.Paulo newspaper” in his absence to create “false narrative.”

Dino stated that he had not made any requests to the United States about Bolsonaro.

According to Reuters, Bolsonaro’s political party, the right-wing Liberal Party, decided to increase the number of its lawyers to prepare for the defense of the former President, a party official said.

Bolsonaro is facing several investigations over anti-democratic statements that he made while he was president. This includes repeated claims about fraud in the election system. Leaders of the PL party now fear that he will face criminal charges for Sunday’s storming and looting of government buildings. Although they don’t believe he will be arrested, they are concerned that he may be declared ineligible for the 2026 election, which is the official aid.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle; Steven Grattan Editing by Cynthia Osterman & Will Dunham