The former minister had taken over as Brasilia’s Security Secretary on January 2, after leaving the Ministry of Justice, and was on vacation when the attack took place.
The Federal Police arrested this Saturday in Brasilia Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice in the ultra-right government Jair Bolsonaro. The arrest was ordered within the framework of the investigation by the Coup attempt on January 8 against President Lula da Silva, official sources reported.
The former minister was detained by the authorities at the Brasilia international airport upon disembarking from Miami, according to his lawyers. Torres was the Secretary of Security of the Federal District of Brasilia when radical Bolsonaristas invaded and destroyed the headquarters of the Congress, the Supreme Court and the Presidency, last Sunday.
The former minister was dismissed from his position as a result of the assault and was on vacation in the United States, a country to which he left on January 7, five days after assuming his new role and one before the assault. He returned to Brazil a day after the current Minister of Justice, Flavio Dino, said that they would activate international cooperation mechanisms if he did not return voluntarily.
Jair Bolsonaro in the crosshairs
Torres is being investigated for alleged “intentional collusion” with those who attacked the heart of the country’s democratic institutions. The Federal Police explained in a brief statement that the detainee “will remain at the disposal of justice” and that “the investigations continue in secret.” The judge who signed the arrest warrant, Alexandre de Moraes, also authorized include Bolsonaro in the investigations who are looking for the instigators and masterminds of the attack.
The Prosecutor’s Office based its request against the former president on the statements made by the far-right leader in a video posted on social networks, where Bolsonaro questioned the October electoral result. Published on January 10, and deleted on January 11, the Prosecutor’s Office said, the video is a piece that even days after the attacks proves a connection to the facts.
Let us remember that on January 8, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters, dissatisfied with Lula’s victory, invaded and looted the headquarters of the Presidency, the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court.