Brazilian senators support charges for Bolsonaro over covid crisis

Brazilian Senators have given their vote to recommend the charging president Jair Bolsonaro over the handling of the Covid pandemic. A senate panel getting back with a report calling for the charges against the president is including the crime assist humanity. More than 600000 deaths took place in the country due to Coronavirus.

The findings will further get sent to the chief prosecutor, who Bolsonaro had appointed earlier. The president has said that he is guilty of nothing, but the crisis has negatively impacted his popularity. The death toll in Brazil is second only to the United States. There is no guarantee that this vote of Brazilian senators will lead to any actual criminal charge.

The reports of the recommendations will now get the assessment from the prosecutor- General Augusto Aras.

The report alleges that Mr. Bolsonaro’s government pursued a policy that allows covid to rip through the nation to achieve herd immunity. It further describes that the president is the main person who is responsible for the errors that the federal government has committed.

The lead author of the report, centrist Senator Renan Calheiros, has called for the recommendations to charge Bolsonaro with the charges against humanity. He wants the report submitted to the International Criminal Court.

Brazil belongs to a party to the Rome Statute, which the ISS has created. Hence the international court can take up the case.

Apart from the criminal charges for humanity, the Senate committee has also recommended 8 more charges to be brought against the president in a Brazilian court. These charges include the falsification of documents, incitement to crime, and social rights violation.

Mr. Bolsonaro is also facing accusations for misusing the public fund and spreading fake news against the pandemic. The 1300 -page report is also recommending bringing charges against two of the corporations and 77 people more and the 3 adult sons of the president.

Throughout the process, the presidents had insisted that the government had done the right thing about this pandemic. He further said that this report lacked any legal basis.

In March, Mr. Bolsonaro caused outrage when he told people to stop whining about the pandemic. He continued to spread wrong information on social media. YouTube has blocked the video of him and suspended his channel. Facebook has also removed the video. Brazil has recorded 606000 deaths and 21.7 million cases.

Credits: BBC