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In a significant development, prominent police commanders in Brazil’s capital have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the riots conducted by radical supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who forcefully entered government buildings earlier this year.
On the instructions of the Supreme Court, seven high-ranking officers from Brasília’s military police were apprehended on Friday. Prosecutors claimed that these individuals failed to take appropriate action to prevent the violence and vandalism that occurred on January 8.
The presiding judge stated that there were clear indications that the criminal acts, which shocked Latin America’s largest democracy, were only made possible with the participation or intentional omission of these officers. The military police in Brazil is an armed force responsible for maintaining law and order.
Prosecutors presented evidence from the accused officers’ mobile phones, indicating an “ideological alignment” with the rioters who refused to accept Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat.
Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist, narrowly lost to his left-wing rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who assumed the presidency a few days prior to these events. Thousands of protesters stormed the congress, supreme court, and presidential palace, causing significant damage before law enforcement restored control.
The acts have been described by Lula as an attempted coup, drawing comparisons to the insurrection at the US Capitol led by supporters of former President Donald Trump two years earlier.
These arrests come at a time when Bolsonaro and his allies face mounting pressure over the events leading up to the disturbances.
The controversial politician has already been disqualified from running for office for eight years due to campaign violations. Bolsonaro consistently claimed, without substantiation, that the country’s electronic voting system was susceptible to fraud and manipulation.
A parliamentary inquiry into the so-called anti-democratic acts heard from a computer programmer who alleged that he was paid by Bolsonaro supporters to attempt hacking the electoral system but was unsuccessful. The programmer claimed that Bolsonaro offered him a pardon if caught, although Bolsonaro denies these allegations.
The prosecutor-general’s office stated that the detained defendants, who have not yet been formally charged, were aware of the risk of attacks but failed to deploy an adequate number of officers. It characterized them as “followers of conspiracy theories about electoral fraud” and cited this as influencing their actions.
The accused individuals face charges including attempted coup, damage to public property, and dereliction of duty in their policing roles.
The supreme court document identified Klepter Rosa, the current commander of the capital’s military police, and his predecessor who was in charge at the time of the attacks, along with five other senior members of the force. Rosa could not be reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Beatriz Langella
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