Two former top officials, one of whom was a close supporter of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, were the targets of arrest warrants issued by Brazilian authorities on Tuesday in an effort to punish the crowd that invaded the corridors of power in Brasilia.
One of them is Anderson Torres, who most recently served as the capital’s security chief after serving as Bolsonaro’s justice minister in the past.
He was let go following the shocking violence on Sunday, which was compared to the uprising in Washington on January 6, 2021, and drew widespread condemnation.
According to Supreme Court judge Alexandre Moraes, Anderson’s inaction as thousands of Bolsonaro supporters overran congress, the White House, and the court is “possibly criminal.”
He also issued an arrest warrant for Fabio Augusto, who led the military police in Brasilia and was also removed from his job after Sunday’s mob violence. News reports said he is already in custody.
“Brazilian democracy will not be struck, much less destroyed, by terrorist criminals,” the judge wrote in his decision.
On Sunday, the mob took over as Torres was on vacation in the US. He claimed he will go back to Brazil and defend himself on Tuesday, and he denied any involvement in the incidents.
In addition, Bolsonaro has been in the US since the end of December, missing the swearing-in of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as his successor.
