PDT charges Bolsonaro ineligible in trial at TSE – 06/22/2023 – Power

The legal representation of the PDT, which presented the action that could lead Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to ineligibility, defended this Thursday (22) the punishment of the former president to the ministers of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) on the grounds that there was the attempted coup d’état.

The party’s lawyer countered Bolsonaro’s defense argument that the TSE cannot analyze the entire context of Bolsonaro’s attacks on the electoral system, but only the meeting with the ambassadors.

According to current legislation, if convicted, he will be able to run again in 2030, aged 75, thus staying away from three elections until then (one of them being the 2026 national).

In his statement at the trial, lawyer Walber Agra said that the action, which was motivated by the former president’s meeting with foreign ambassadors, “is not just about a meeting of the ambassadors, it is about a plurality of facts”.

According to him, this plurality of facts is related both to the 2018 election and the 2022 election. “We are not trying to impute responsibility for a body of work,” he said.

The lawyer stated that the draft of the coup found by the Federal Police in the house of former minister Anderson Torres is “the outcome of the temptation of these acts practiced”, in reference to the attacks on electronic voting machines.

Agra also criticized the actions of Bolsonaro’s lawyers for trying to prevent the inclusion of the draft of the coup in the case file.

“The defense is made not through the allegation of the fact, but it is done through the attempt of procedural obstacles. It is done through yet another fake news. When I deny its content, those who are silent consent”, he said.

According to the lawyer, the draft of the coup is one of the “developments of facts of the cause of action”, he said. “The reason for asking is prior, but am I going to deny the fact? Am I going to freeze the world finally?”, he argued.

And he continued: “Later facts are unfolding. The narrative is the same. There is no incorporation of any new fact, of any different cause of action”.

The Aije (electoral judicial investigation action) against Bolsonaro focuses on the meeting with ambassadors held by the then president in July last year, in which he repeated lies about the electronic voting machines and made attacks on the ministers of the TSE and the STF (Supreme Court). Federal).

This model of action, the Aije, can be filed up to the date of the candidate’s graduation and aims to investigate conduct that may affect equality of dispute in the election, such as abuse of economic power, authority or misuse of the media.

If declared ineligible by the TSE, Bolsonaro, 68, will not be able to run for eight years – a period that starts with the 2022 election.

In July last year, Bolsonaro invited dozens of foreign representatives to speak about the country’s electronic voting system.

The event lasted about 50 minutes and was broadcast on TV Brasil. At the time, the government’s Secretariat of Communication barred the press, allowing only vehicles that committed to broadcast the event live.

The PDT says that Bolsonaro practiced abuse of political power, which occurs when the holder of power uses his position “to act in a way to influence the voter”, harming the freedom to vote.

In addition, it claims that it made improper use of social media – by using social networks to convey attacks on the integrity of the voting system.

The party also points out that there would have been misuse of the state apparatus, because the event took place in the Palácio da Alvorada, with transmission by TV Brasil.

The PDT’s speech takes place before Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Tarcísio Vieira, begins his speech to the ministers.