Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) has sought permission from the Supreme Court to prosecute the country’s President Jair Bolsonaro for alleged crimes of disinformation about the coronavirus.
The police report, which the Brazilian newspaper has access to Or a balloonbelieves that Bolsonaro’s statements, broadcast on video in June 2021, regarding an alleged the relationship between the Covid-19 vaccine and the risk of HIV infection can be qualified as a crime “causing alarm in third parties, publicizing a non-existent danger”.
Also, Bolsonaro discourages the use of masks, citing – as false information – that Spanish flu victims died more from wearing masks than from the flu. In this sense, the PF has indicated that this action can be considered as “incitement to commit a crime”.
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“This “incentive” to violate a mandatory health measure is included in the behavior described in Art. 286 from the Criminal Code, which typifies the criminal type of incitement to a crime,” the police officers specify in the partial report.
Lt. Col. Mauro Barbosa Cid, who works as an aide to the presidency, provided this false information that was knowingly spread by the president. “Bolsonaro freely, willingly and knowingly disseminated information that did not correspond to the original text of his source, potentially generating an alarm for a non-existent hazard for viewers besides encouraging them to violate health regulations,” the text reads.