Roberto Jefferson fired gunshots and launched grenades to prevent his arrest after breaking the conditions for his house arrest. The outgoing far -right president condemned “armed action” of the former deputy.
Le Monde with AP and AFP
It is an overflow of rare violence that says a lot about the state of tension that agitates Brazil, a week from the second round of the presidential election. Roberto Jefferson, ex-parliamentary between 1983 and 2055, and support of the outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro, wanted to prevent the police from arresting him at his home, Sunday October 23, shooting with a rifle and launching grenades .
At the time of the arrest, in the city of Levy Gasparian (State of Rio de Janeiro, South-East), Mr. Jefferson, 69, “reacted” and two police officers “were injured by the bursts of ‘A grenade he launched, “said the federal police (PF). The two affected people received medical care and are in good health, added the PF, which strengthened the police presence on the scene.
Following the incidents on Sunday, Mr. Jefferson said, in a video message sent to supporters on Whatsapp, which he had refused to go, although in the early evening, he was in custody View.
“I did not shoot anyone to touch them, he defends himself in the video. No one. I shot on their car and near them. They were four, they ran, I said : “Go, because I’m going to have you”. I give an example (…): resist oppression, resist tyranny. God bless Brazil. “
Later, the Brazilian federal police said, in a statement, that the former deputy had also been arrested for attempted murder.
insults to the president of the federal supreme court
m. Jefferson was under a prison sentence from Federal Supreme Tribunal (STF), the highest judicial body in the country, for having violated the conditions of his house arrest.
The supreme court sought to slow down the spread of disinformation and undemocratic declarations before the October 30 vote which will oppose the former leftist president Lula and the current head of state of the far right Jair Bolsonaro. Mr. Jefferson had been imprisoned preventively for having uttered threats against the court judges, but he had received, in January, authorization to remain under house arrest, respecting certain conditions.
The magistrate of the STF Alexandre de Moraes ordered the return to Mr. Jefferson on Sunday by relying on several breaches of the conditions of this assignment at home. The former deputy had recently treated the president of the STF, Carmen Lúcia, “witch” and “prostitute” recently on social networks.
Bolsonaro takes her distances
Jair Bolsonaro has distanced himself from Roberto Jefferson , Sunday, on Twitter :” Anyone who shoots a police officer must be treated like a bandit. I express my solidarity with the police injured in this episode “. The Head of State had previously condemned “the armed action” of Mr. Jefferson, who reclaimed for eight hours at his home.
“There is not a single photo of him and me,” he also advanced, but his opponents quickly published several photos of the two men together on social networks.
While trying not to be splashed by this case, Jair Bolsonaro, however, criticized the judicial inquiries against Mr. Jefferson who, in his opinion, are carried out “without any constitutional reason or any prosecution”. He also dispatched his Minister of Justice on the spot.
These incidents aroused the reaction of ex-president Lula, a favorite of polls one week from the presidential election. “The offenses committed against Carmen Lúcia cannot be accepted by anyone who respecting democracy”, he wrote on Twitter . “We have created in society a form of violence. A machine to destroy democratic values. This generates behaviors like the one we have seen today,” added Lula, also expressing his solidarity with the wounded.