The judge of Brazil’s Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, has ordered the Federal Police to carry out more than one hundred operations in relation to the protests called by supporters of the still president Jair Bolsonaro to protest his defeat in the past elections.
The objective of these operations is to purge responsibilities for the road blockades that took place as soon as it was known that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had won the second round of those disputed elections.
The operations have been carried out in eight states, with those of Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina being the ones where most of these devices have been deployed.
In addition to searches and seizures, De Moraes has issued arrest warrants, arrest and freezing of assets, and bank secrecy orders. Among the targets are well-known deputies sympathetic to Bolsonaro, such as the military in the reserve Lucinio Castelo de Assumção, known ‘Capitão Assumção’, and Carlos Von, both in Espírito Santo, reports the newspaper ‘O Globo’.
«The Police went there and took my computer», confirmed Von, who has his passport withdrawn and denied having participated in «anti-democratic demonstrations», nor having spoken out against the validity of the election results.
For his part, De Assumção has assured that the operation ordered by De Moraes against him only has a «political» purpose to «embarrass» him before the public opinion, since in his opinion «there is not the slightest evidence» of his participation in these acts or in the attacks to the Supreme Court.
This Monday, during the delivery of credentials to Lula da Silva by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), De Moraes already warned that the perpetrators of the «anti-democratic attacks» would be «fully held accountable» and a day later he said that «there were still many people to be arrested and many fines to be applied».
The same day that Lula received the credentials violent protests took place in Brasilia by Bolsonaro’s acolytes who still refuse to recognize Lula da Silva’s victory. Numerous vehicles were set on fire, street furniture was vandalized and they even tried to storm a Federal Police headquarters.
