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Federal police accuse the former president of falsifying his Covid-19 vaccination card.
By Jack Nicas
Report from Rio de Janeiro
Brazil’s federal police have suggested that former President Jair Bolsonaro be illegally charged with a scheme to forge his Covid-19 vaccine card, in part to travel to the United States during the pandemic, the latest sign of the closure of criminal investigations into the former president.
Federal prosecutors will now decide whether or not to pursue the case. If they did, it would be the first time the former president would face criminal charges.
Brazilian police accused Bolsonaro of ordering a no-nonsense congressman to download falsified Covid-19 vaccination records for himself and his 13-year-old daughter in late 2022, just before the former president traveled to Florida to stay three months after his election. failure.
Brazilian police said they were waiting for a reaction from the U. S. Department of Justice on whether Bolsonaro had used a fake vaccination card to enter the U. S. , which could lead to other criminal charges. At the time, the maximum number of foreign visitors to the United States had to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 to enter the country.
Bolsonaro has said he has not received the Covid-19 vaccine, but has denied allegations that he is involved in any scheme to falsify his vaccination record. His attorney said in a text message that he is still reviewing the charges.
Bolsonaro, if found guilty of falsifying his vaccine card, could face a prison sentence.
The indictment through federal police is the first time the investigation into Bolsonaro has moved toward indictments.
Bolsonaro has faced questioning and searches in several investigations, adding to the sale of watches and jewelry he won as a presidential gift from Saudi Arabia and allegations that he collaborated with senior government officials to expand a control plan to retain power after his 2022. electoral defeat.
Brazil’s electoral court has already ruled that Bolsonaro will not be allowed to run in public elections until 2030 for spreading false data about Brazil’s electoral formula on state television, forcing him not to participate in the upcoming 2026 presidential election.
During the pandemic, Bolsonaro criticized the Covid-19 vaccine, notoriously joking that it would turn other people into alligators and selling unproven treatments, such as an anti-malarial drug called hydroxychloroquine.
His administration was reluctant to get the vaccines when they were first distributed, exacerbating the pandemic in Brazil, according to an investigation by the Brazilian Congress that advised charging the former president with “crimes against humanity,” among other charges, for his pandemic movements.
The prosecutor at the time did not rate it. Nearly 600,000 more people have died in Brazil from Covid-19, the second-highest death toll in the country after the United States.
In May 2023, police raided M’s home. Bolsonaro confiscated his cellphone and arrested one of his closest aides and two of his security guards as part of the investigation into false vaccination records.
Flávia Milhorance contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro and Paulo Motoryn from Brasilia.
Jack Nicas is the Times’ Brazil bureau chief in Rio de Janeiro, where he directs policy in much of South America. Learn more about Jack Nicas
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