Far-right Brazilian presidential candidate charged with inciting hatred and discrimination
Jair Bolsonaro could face up to three years in prison if convicted
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Brazil’s attorney general charged congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right presidential candidate who had been running in second place in the polls, with inciting hatred and discrimination against blacks, indigenous communities, women and gays.
The case injected a new jolt of drama into Brazil’s presidential election, which will be held in October. The charge came less than a week after the front-runner in the race, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, began serving a 12-year sentence for corruption.
The charging document, which was signed by attorney general Raquel Dodge, includes a long list of incendiary remarks by Mr Bolsonaro, who has developed a strong and loyal following by using harsh language and vowing to adopt severe tactics to address Brazil’s epidemic of violence.
If convicted, Mr Bolsonaro, 63, could face up to three years in prison and a $117,000 (£82,000) fine.
Ms Dodge outlined several passages from a speech Mr Bolsonaro gave a year ago in Rio de Janeiro, alleging that they constituted “hate speech”. Mr Bolsonaro lamented the state of quilombolas, traditional communities of Afro-Brazilians that enjoy legal protections.
Residents of one quilombola he had visited recently “did nothing,” Mr Bolsonaro said. He added: “I think they don’t even manage to procreate anymore.” He also spoke dismissively about indigenous territories.
In another part of the speech, Mr Bolsonaro said he had four sons – and one daughter, who he said had been the result of a “moment of weakness”.
Ms Dodge also noted several homophobic remarks, including an instance in which Mr Bolsonaro said he would “prefer that my son die in an accident than show up with some dude with a moustache”.
Mr Bolsonaro posted a television interview on his social media accounts in which he called allegations of racism baseless.
“For the love of God, you can’t say anything in this country,” he said in the interview.
Ms Dodge also charged one of Mr Bolsonaro’s sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a fellow federal lawmaker and one of his father’s most prominent surrogates, with threatening a journalist.
The charging document against the younger Mr Bolsonaro, 33, included a transcript of an exchange on a messaging application in which he called the journalist, Patricia de Oliveira Souza Lelis, a “whore” and a “vagabond”.
In the exchange, according to the transcript, Mr Bolsonaro said that he would “ruin her life” and “make her regret having been born.” The news site G1 quoted a representative of Mr Bolsonaro as saying that he had not threatened anyone.
Because they are members of Congress, Jair and Eduardo Bolsonaro enjoy a privileged legal standing under which they may only be tried before the Supreme Court. The court has a large backlog of cases involving elected officials, which makes it unlikely that the matters will be resolved before the election.
The elder Mr Bolsonaro faces a separate case before the court for having told a female lawmaker in 2014 that she was too ugly to rape.
The New York Times
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.