Brazil Rioters Charged With Staging a Coup, Criminal Association After Breach in Government Buildings
Brazil has indicted the people involved in Brazil riots, with some of the thousands of people storming government buildings in an attempt to overturn the October presidential election results.
The prosecutors have requested that 39 defendants who allegedly ransacked the government buildings of Brazil be imprisoned as a preventive measure, as reported by The Guardian.
Participants of the Brazil riots are facing charges such as criminal association, violent attempts to subvert the democratic state of law, staging a coup, and damage to public property, according to the prosecutor general's office statement.
They also called for the seizure of their assets worth $7.7 million to help cover damages.
Meanwhile, the people charged in light of the January 8 Brazil riots have yet to be named publicly.
The charges alleged the protesters of attempting to install an "alternative government regime" as the "ultimate object" of their breach of government buildings.
The Senate's president of Brazil, Rodrigo Pacheco, provided a list of people accused of attacking the Congress
A week after, the prosecutor-general's office sent its charges to the Supreme Court. More Brazilian rioters are expected to be charged.
Meanwhile, the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has voiced his regrets but denied that he caused the unrest.
Brazil Riots Probe
Newly seated Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that the security force members were part of letting the mob of supporters storm the government buildings in Brazil.
Lula recently removed 400 guards guarding the presidential residence after his open distrust of the military for failing to prevent demonstrators from breaching government buildings.
However, the office of the president has yet to address questions on who would guard the residence amid the removal of the 400 troops.
Investigations into the Brazil riots have shown intentional lapses in security, allowing the unrest to occur.
Lula also told the press that there were several people from the armed forces who were complicit and allowed people in as they did not see "that the door was broken."
More than 1,000 people were arrested on the day of the Brazil riots on January 8, which draws points of similarities from the United States January 6 Capitol riot.
The Brazilian rioters were not charged with terrorism as such a charge would have to involve xenophobia or prejudice based on race, ethnicity, or religion, under Brazilian law.
Jair Bolsonaro on Brazil Riots
Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied any implied participation he had in the riots. However, Bolsonaro has consistently sowed doubt about the legitimacy of the votes, resulting in the win of Lula.
Brazil's electoral court's head rejected Bolsonaro's petition to annul ballots and called the outgoing President's accusations "ludicrous" and "illicit."
Bolsonaro has accused that some of the electoral court's voting machines had "malfunctioned."
The Ministry of Defense in Brazil did not find any evidence of fraud or inconsistency in the electoral process report, which was published in November.
Bolsonaro then fled to the country on the eve of Lula's inauguration and has been staying in Florida.
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Brazil congress: New CCTV footage of Bolsonaro rioters smashing up inside of presidential building - from The Telegraph