Anderson Torres, former Bolsonaro minister, arrested for assault in Brasilia

A former minister of Jair Bolsonaro He was arrested this Saturday in Brasilia in connection with the violent attack on the capital on January 8, for which the far-right ex-president is also under the magnifying glass of the prosecutor’s office, reported the Federal Police.

Anderson Torresformer Minister of Justice, was working as the capital’s Security Secretary when thousands of supporters of the ultra-right leader devastated the headquarters of public powers on the day that the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was serving a week in office.

He is being investigated for alleged “intentional collusion” with those who attacked the heart of the country’s democratic institutions.

“He was arrested when he disembarked at the airport in Brasilia and sent to custody, where it will remain at the disposal of the justice system,” the Federal Police said in a short statement. “The investigations continue in secret,” the institution added.

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The arrest warrant for Torres is signed by the judge of the Supremo Tribunal Federal Alexandre de Moraes, who also authorized on Friday, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office, to include Bolsonaro in the investigations that are looking for the instigators and masterminds of the attack.

The Prosecutor’s Office based its request on the statements made by the far-right leader in a video posted on social networks.

The former president questioned the October electoral result, in which he lost to Lula by less than two percentage points.

Published on January 10, and deleted on January 11, said the Prosecutor’s Office, the video is a piece that even days after the attacks proves a connection to the events.

In a note sent to AFP on Friday, the defense of Bolsonaro He denied any involvement in the vandalism in Brasilia for which the authorities have already detained almost 2,000 people.

“He (Bolsonaro) never had any relationship or participation in these movements,” say the lawyers for the ex-president, who blame “infiltrators” for the coup.

The interrogation request of Bolsonaro, who is in the United States, will be analyzed “in a timely manner,” Moraes wrote in his ruling.

discreet operative

On January 8, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters, dissatisfied with Lula’s victory, invaded and looted the offices of the Presidency, the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court.

Torres was removed from the Security Secretary of the capital for an “act of sabotage”, said the Vice Minister of Justice, Ricardo Cappelli.

According to the deputy minister, Torres modified an important part of the command of the Brasilia Security Secretariat and took vacations before the attacks.

When the justice determined his arrest, he maintained his innocence on social networks and announced that he would return to Brazil to appear before the authorities.

He landed from the United States, where Bolsonaro continues, this Saturday morning, one day after the current Justice Minister, Flavio Dino, promised to activate international cooperation mechanisms if he did not return voluntarily in the next 48 hours.

The operation at the airport was carried out discreetly, preserving the image of Torres, who is also a police officer.

The current Minister of Justice, Flavio Dinoreported that Torres will also have to give explanations in relation to a presidential decree project, without signature but with the name of Bolsonaro, with which it was intended to alter the result of the 2022 elections.

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