SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 29 March 2024, Friday |

Brazil’s Bolsonaro asks Senate to impeach a Supreme Court justice

According to the proposal obtained by Reuters, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro upped the stakes in his war with the country’s Supreme Court on Friday, submitting the Senate a request for the impeachment of one of the court’s judges.

Bolsonaro is attempting to get Justice Alexandre de Moraes impeached after the latter started an inquiry into the president for allegedly releasing to the press a secret federal police report of a hacking that backed up his claims that Brazil’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud.

Moraes has also launched an investigation into Bolsonaro’s attacks on the Supreme Electoral Court, which maintains that the electronic voting method is secure and auditable.

Rodrigo Pacheco, the Senate’s president, told reporters that he will look into the request, but that there are neither political or technical grounds to impeach Moraes.

Bolsonaro’s motion was denied by the Supreme Court, which stated that it “does not accept a magistrate being blamed for his decisions,” which must be challenged through the regular appeals process.

Bolsonaro’s critics say he is sowing doubts about the voting system so he can question next year’s election results if he loses. Polls show former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ahead, though neither have announced they will run.

The president’s request to the Senate, which is the only body that can try a top court judge, said some justices were committing abuses and breaking the law by launching investigations without the involvement of state prosecutors.

The Senate is not expected to take up the impeachment request, just as the lower chamber has not advanced any of the dozens of requests to impeach Bolsonaro.

But his case against Moraes will deepen the crisis between the president and the Supreme Court, which Bolsonaro supporters want to see closed down.

    Source:
  • Reuters