Brazil Top Court to Investigate Bolsonaro Role in Brasilia Riots

Brazil’s Supreme Court is set to investigate the ultra-right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro over riots and looting of government buildings in Brasilia this week.

In a decision late Friday, the court approved a request from the office of the prosecutor general to include Bolsonaro in a rapidly expanding investigation into the anti-democratic riots on January 8.

By doing so, “Bolsonaro would have publicly incited the commission of a crime,” the prosecutor general said in a statement, accusing the former president of “instigation and intellectual authorship” of the riots.

The development came after Bolsonaro’s rioting supporters ransacked the presidential palace, the Supreme Court, and the Congress. Bolsonaro’s video went viral two days after the violent attack but was later removed.

Bolsonaro has denied any involvement in the riots. In a memo published on Friday, Bolsonaro stated that he “had no relationship or participation in these movements”, blaming infiltrators for the incidents.