• Direct witness At the epicenter of the assault: "There was glass, garbage and blood everywhere"

  • The facts The demonstrations of Bolsonaristas fail after the reinforcement of security in Brasilia

Brazil's Supreme Court has agreed to open an investigation into former President

Jair Bolsonaro

for allegedly encouraging anti-democratic protests that ended in the storming of government buildings by his supporters in Brasilia.

"Public figures who continue to cowardly conspire against democracy by trying to establish a state of emergency will be held accountable," said Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who agreed to a request by federal prosecutors to launch the investigation.

Bolsonaro, who is currently in

the United States,

will be investigated by prosecutors for possible "instigation and intellectual authorship of the anti-democratic acts that resulted in vandalism and violence in Brasilia last Sunday," the top prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The Supreme Court had already ordered the arrest of Bolsonaro's former justice minister,

Anderson Torres,

for allowing protests in the Brazilian capital after he assumed responsibility for Brasilia's public security.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters

vandalized the Supreme Court

, Congress and the presidential palace last weekend, seeking to cause chaos and a military coup that would oust President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and return the far-right leader to power.

After losing the Brazilian elections in October to Lula, Bolsonaro left Brazil for the United States on the eve of the end of his term, avoiding passing the presidential sash to his leftist rival at his inauguration.

Torres, who like Bolsonaro is in Florida, has said he plans to return to Brazil to turn himself in.

Bolsonaro said on social networks that he will advance his return to Brazil.

Justice Minister

Flavio Dino

also said at a press conference that he would wait until next week to re-evaluate Torres' case, indicating that an effort to request his extradition could occur if the former minister does not turn himself in.

The arrest warrant for Torres was issued by de Moraes, who removed Brasilia's security chief from office just hours after the rampage.

On Thursday, police found

a draft decree

at Torres's house that appeared to be a proposal to interfere in the election result.

Torres claimed the document was among others in a pile that was being discarded.

He said they were "leaked" to the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper in his absence to create a "false narrative."

The political party to which Bolsonaro belongs, the right-wing Liberal Party (PL), has decided, for its part, to reinforce its team of lawyers to prepare the former president's defense, a party official told Reuters.

Bolsonaro is facing several investigations for various anti-democratic statements he made as president, including repeated claims that the electoral system was open to fraud.

PL party leaders now fear he will be held responsible for Sunday's assault on government buildings.

Although they do not believe that he will be arrested, they fear that he could be declared ineligible to run in the 2026 elections, according to official assistance.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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