The senator leading a congressional probe into Brazil’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has recommended that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with homicide for alleged government errors that led to the deaths of thousands.
Bolsonaro has dismissed the probe as politically motivated. It is highly unlikely that he would face trial on such charges, which would have to be brought by the Brazilian Prosecutor General Augusto Aras, who was appointed by Bolsonaro.
The nearly 1,200-page document, prepared by opposition Brazilian Senator Renan Calheiros for a Brazilian Senate commission that conducted the probe, alleges that Bolsonaro turned down early opportunities for the government to acquire vaccines, delaying Brazil’s inoculation campaign and costing an estimated 95,000 lives.
Photo: Reuters
The report says that Bolsonaro was guided “by an unfounded belief in the theory of herd immunity by natural infection and the existence of a treatment.”
“Without the vaccine, deaths would be stratospheric, as they turned out to be,” the report adds.
The draft report still needs to be voted on by the Senate commission, and could be vetoed and altered. The vote is to take place next week.
Neither the presidential office nor the Brazilian Ministry of Health immediately responded to requests for comment.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bolsonaro told supporters that the probe was a “joke,” saying that he was not concerned about it.
The report also says that charges should be filed against three of Bolsonaro’s sons: Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro; Eduardo Bolsonaro, a federal deputy; and Carlos Bolsonaro, a city councilor.
The report alleges that the sons spread misinformation that incentivized “non-compliance with sanitary measures to contain the pandemic.”
With a death toll of nearly 604,000 people due to COVID-19, Brazil has the second-highest toll worldwide, behind only the US.
Jair Bolsonaro has been widely criticized by public health experts for railing against lockdowns, frequently refusing to wear a mask in public and declaring he has not been vaccinated.
He has also pushed unproven remedies for the illness, such as the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.
The report says that Jair Bolsonaro is “principally responsible for the government’s errors committed during the COVID-19 pandemic” and that he acted against the advice of his health ministry in supporting the use of unapproved treatments.
The report recommends that 13 criminal charges be brought against Jair Bolsonaro, including genocide against Brazil’s Aboriginal population for actions that left their communities vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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