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🇧🇷 Brazil /Elections & Politics

Moraes schedules trial of Eduardo Bolsonaro over alleged U.S. pressure campaign

From Folha de S.Paulo · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes scheduled the virtual trial of Eduardo Bolsonaro and journalist Paulo Figueiredo for Sept. 11-18.
  • Prosecutors accuse the pair of coercion, obstruction of an investigation and attempts to violently abolish the democratic rule of law through actions involving U.S. authorities.
  • The court's First Panel will decide whether to convict or acquit Eduardo Bolsonaro after previously accepting the prosecution's charges.

The Brazilian Supreme Court is preparing to decide whether Eduardo Bolsonaro used contacts in the United States to pressure Brazil's judiciary over the criminal case against his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.

political persecution under way

— Eduardo Bolsonaro and Paulo FigueiredoThe defendants used the phrase in a joint statement rejecting the charges.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes scheduled the case for the court's virtual docket from Sept. 11 to 18. The First Panel, which includes Moraes, Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin and Cármen Lúcia, will examine the case itself and determine whether Eduardo Bolsonaro should be convicted or acquitted.

The prosecution alleges that Eduardo Bolsonaro and journalist Paulo Figueiredo coordinated efforts with the U.S. government to intervene in proceedings against Jair Bolsonaro. Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet said Eduardo may have committed coercion, obstruction of an investigation and an attempt to violently abolish the democratic rule of law by acting with foreign authorities against members of Brazil's Supreme Court, the prosecutor's office and the federal police.

phony

— Eduardo Bolsonaro and Paulo FigueiredoThe pair used the term to dismiss the prosecution's accusation.

Moraes said the prosecution had presented several indications that Eduardo worked in the United States to pressure the judiciary into suspending the case involving an alleged coup plot against his father. He cited the alleged pursuit of U.S. measures including export tariffs on Brazil, visa suspensions for Brazilian officials and the use of the Magnitsky Act against the justice. The U.S. government later imposed financial sanctions on Moraes and his wife, according to the report.

Moraes's lackeys

— Eduardo Bolsonaro and Paulo FigueiredoThey used the phrase to criticize Paulo Gonet's team at the prosecutor's office.

Eduardo Bolsonaro and Figueiredo rejected the charges in a joint statement, calling them a "political persecution under way" and "phony". They also described Gonet's team at the prosecutor's office as "Moraes's lackeys". The case against the two defendants was separated, and Moraes ordered that Eduardo be summoned by public notice, saying he had hindered the proceedings.

the articulation and obtaining of sanctions from the government of the United States of America, with the application of export tariffs to Brazil, the suspension of entry visas for several Brazilian authorities in the United States of America and the application of the effects of the Magnitsky Act to this reporting justice

— Alexandre de MoraesMoraes described the alleged conduct he said constituted coercion.
About this summary

Originally published by Folha de S.Paulo in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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