A Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (ICC) of the Brazilian Senate will request this Wednesday the indictment of President Jair Bolsonaro for a series of “intentional” crimes during the Covid-19 pandemic which has left more than 600,000 dead in his country. After nearly six months of eventful hearings, with moving testimonies and chilling revelations about experiments on “human guinea pigs” with ineffective remedies, the ICC, made up of senators from various political leanings, delivers a highly anticipated report.
The document of approximately 1,200 pages should be read – probably in an abridged version – by rapporteur Renan Calheiros. This one announced Tuesday evening to have retained nine counts of indictment against Jair Bolsonaro, of which “crime against humanity” and “prevarication”. Those of “homicide” and “genocide of indigenous populations” were withdrawn at the last minute due to dissensions within the ICC. For the ICC, the crimes cited in the report are “intentional”, the Bolsonaro government having deliberately decided not to take the necessary measures to contain the circulation of the virus.
“We can criticize the president’s attitude, but not incriminate him”
Extremely serious accusations, which should nevertheless have an especially symbolic scope for the time being, the far-right president benefiting from support in Parliament able to prevent him from opening an impeachment procedure. Likewise, Attorney General Augusto Aras, an ally of Jair Bolsonaro, can block any indictment. The ICC is also expected to seek indictment of several ministers and the president’s three eldest sons, who called the commission a “farce”.
“This report will sound like a sentence, but the government is calm. One can criticize the attitude of the president, but not incriminate him, declared to the site Uol Fernando Bezerra, head of the parliamentary block of government in the Senate. The ICC does not have the power to initiate legal proceedings itself, but its revelations could have a considerable political impact, as polls already show Jair Bolsonaro losing to left-wing ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva one year away from the presidential election.
Bolsonaro indictment unlikely
The report will be sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has sole jurisdiction to indict those accused by the ICC. In the case of Jair Bolsonaro, specialists consider this indictment unlikely, since it is the responsibility of the Attorney General. After the hearings of several ministers, senior officials or leaders of hospitals and companies, the ICC took a more human turn on Monday, with testimonies from families of Covid-19 victims.
The ICC has investigated the government’s responsibilities in the serious oxygen shortage that has caused the death of dozens of patients by asphyxiation in Manaus (north), Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-confinement speech and his denial of the severity of the Covid, a “Grippette”. The government is also pinned for delays and suspicions of corruption in the procurement of vaccines. The Commission also looked into the relations between Brasilia and private health mutuals accused of promoting “early treatment”, in particular with hydroxychloroquine, the ineffectiveness of which has been scientifically proven.
