Brazilian authorities are increasing the pressure on Jair Bolsonaro with a probe into the former president’s role in riots that upended the nation’s capital on Jan. 8 and the arrest of his Justice Minister Anderson Torres by federal police.
Torres was arrested on Saturday after arriving in Brasilia following a vacation in the U.S. The former minister, whose arrest was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, has denied any involvement in the attacks that damaged government buildings and tested the leadership of new President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Rodrigo Roca, a lawyer for Torres, didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
A day earlier, Moraes also accepted a request by Brazilian prosecutors to probe Bolsonaro for the alleged incitement of the insurrection. In his decision, the justice mentioned a video that was posted and later deleted by Bolsonaro containing conspiracy theories about electoral fraud, allegations that were repeated by protesters who stormed the presidential palace, congress and the top court buildings last Sunday.
