The storm in Brasilia

Archive image. Alexandre de Moraes. And picture from the storm in January. TT 

 

The storm in Brasilia 

Senior military police officers arrested - suspected of coup d'état 

 

Brazilian authorities on Friday arrested seven senior military police officers following a court order, Reuters reported. The background is their suspected role in the storming of the parliament in Brasilia in January.  

 

According to the country's highest court, those arrested knew that Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court would be stormed, but still failed to act. 

 

- [The suspects] have deliberately failed to act, they shied away from the coup planning of the anti-democratic herd that attacked the three branches of the Republic, says Alexandre de Moraes, judge of the Supreme Court.  

 

The seven senior military police officers, two of whom at the time held leading positions in the capital, are thus singled out in particular. The military police are accused of attempted coup d'état, the vandalism of state assets and misconduct.

Archive image. President of Brazil with his wife Michelle Bolsonaro. Brown Prado / AP  

 

Jair Bolsonaro in increasing trouble: Investigated doubly  

 

Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro is in double trouble in his home country, Reuters and AFP write. On Friday, a judge at the country's highest court ordered authorities to examine his and wife Michelle's private bank accounts. This after accusations that they received gifts, without reporting it.  

 

Bolsonaro is also being investigated for his role in the uprising in Brasília on January 8, when thousands of his supporters stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court. 

 

During an interrogation in the Brazilian Congress, a computer hacker stated that Bolsonaro urged him to try to manipulate a vote counting machine before the election. This allowed Bolsonaro to claim that the system was unsafe. 

 

- He gave me a blank check and said I could do whatever I wanted with the voting machines, the hacker said.  

 

However, the computer hacker stated during the interrogation that he did not succeed in hacking into the machines.