Brazil: Lawyer maintains that Bolsonaro is accused of having “expressed opinions”

The lawyer Tarcísio Vieira, defender of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in a trial for alleged electoral abusesassured this Thursday that his client is accused of having “expressed opinions” about the voting system.

The central point of the accusation is a meeting that Bolsonaro called at the official residence of the Presidency with fifty foreign ambassadors on July 18, 2022 to criticize the electoral system and democracy itself, and ordered that it be broadcast on public television. .

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When presenting the defense before the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in the first hearing of the process, Vieira acknowledged that, on that occasion, “perhaps in an inappropriate, acid, excessively forceful tone,” Bolsonaro did nothing more than “express his opinions on the Brazilian electoral system.”

The lawyer assured that it was only a “Franciscan” and “institutional” meeting with ambassadors and said that it did constitute an “advance propaganda”, since the campaign had not yet started, or if there was “an improper use of the building and public facilities”. , Bolsonaro should be fined and not stripped of his political rights.

That is precisely the penalty demanded by the accusation, formulated by the Democratic Labor Party, which has denounced the former president for “abuses of political and economic power, prohibited conduct, information disorder and improper use of the media.”

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The accusation affirms that Bolsonaro even incurred in an “attempted coup” and links him to the assault on the three powers of the Nation that occurred on January 8, eight days after the inauguration of the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula. da Silva, who won the elections last October.

According to Vieira, what is on trial in the TSE is “the meeting with the ambassadors”, which was “a typical act of the Government”, and not some “regrettable and reprehensible” events that occurred “months after that meeting” with diplomats. .

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) of Brazil began a trial on Thursday for alleged abuses of power by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who can lose all his political rights if found guilty. (Photo: EFE/Andre Borges)

Bolsonaro’s lawyer considered that the alleged connection between that meeting and the events of January is no more than “a fanciful story”, which is “impertinent” and “has no relation to the facts that are being judged.”

The TSE, which if it finds Bolsonaro guilty can strip him of his political rights for a period of eight years, has reserved three hearings for this case, so the sentence would be handed down next week.

Source: Elcomercio