Judges at Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court will hear a case against former President Jair Bolsonaro starting June 22. It is about alleged abuse of office and alleged misinformation.
Judges at Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court will hear a trial against former President Jair Bolsonaro starting June 22. As the court announced on Monday (local time), the deliberations of the judges in the case could continue on June 27th and 29th if necessary. The public prosecutor’s office accuses the right-wing extremist, who will be in office until the end of 2022, of “political abuse of power” and “inappropriate behavior of the means of communication”. If convicted, Bolsonaro faces an eight-year ban from office. A dozen cases are currently pending against Bolsonaro in the electoral court for alleged abuse of his economic and political power in connection with the 2022 presidential election.
In the upcoming trial, Bolsonaro is accused of attacking the electoral justice system in the run-up to the presidential election and questioning the reliability of electronic voting in Brazil without any evidence. Among other things, Bolsonaro announced in July 2022 to European diplomats that the “loopholes” in the electoral system would be “corrected” and that the army might be involved in his project.
Electronic voting has been in use in Brazil since 1996, and until now there had been no evidence of security problems.
In addition to his trials before the electoral court, Bolsonaro also has to answer for four trials before Brazil’s Supreme Court. Among other things, it is about the attack by hundreds of his supporters on the government district of the capital Brasília on January 8 of this year. Bolsonaro faces imprisonment.