Brazil’s far-Right president Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday furiously denied any link to the assassination of a left-wing politician last year in an emotional live broadcast on Facebook.
“They’re trying to link me [to the execution], it’s not going to stick!” said Mr Bolsonaro, referring to reports by Brazilian media giant TV Globo that embroiled him in the murder of Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro City Councillor.
At times fighting back tears, the former army captain hit out at the “putrid” media in a 23-minute diatribe posted shortly before 4am on an official trip to Saudi Arabia.
“I had no reason to kill anyone in Rio de Janeiro, I only heard about this councilor on the day she was executed,” Mr Bolsonaro said, threatening to revoke TV Globo’s broadcasting licence.
Hours earlier, the channel connected Mr Bolsonaro to suspects in the murder of Franco in March 2018, indicating the getaway driver visited Mr Bolsonaro’s home on the day of the assassination.
AFP
Left-wing councilor Ms Franco, who campaigned against police brutality, was executed on her way home from a speaking engagement along with her driver Anderson Gomes. Investigators believe a militia death squad known as the “Office of Crime” carried out the hit.
TV Globo reporters accessed investigation records including testimony from a doorman at the upscale Rio de Janeiro gated community where Mr Bolsonaro is neighbours with Ronnie Lessa, who was arrested in March on suspicion he pulled the trigger in the assassination.
On the day of Ms Franco’s execution, the suspected getaway driver Élcio Queiroz visited Mr Lessa’s home. However, the housing complex’s records show that Mr Queiroz presented himself as a visitor for Jair Bolsonaro.
According to the doorman, Mr Queiroz’s entry was cleared after calling the president’s home and speaking to a voice he recognized as belonging to “Mr Jair”.
TV Globo’s report pointed out that Mr Bolsonaro—at the time a member of Congress—was in parliament at the time, as confirmed by congressional logs.
Marielle Franco rose to prominence in Rio de Janeiro for her work combating the rise of urban militias, gangs of often ex-security forces that run extortion rackets in the city’s suburbs.
Before being elected as councilor, she worked as an advisor on a massive parliamentary investigation into the work of these paramilitary groups, which indicted over 200 politicians and police officers.
AFP
The links between the Bolsonaro family and urban militias are numerous, though the president maintains they are purely coincidental. In the case of Ronnie Lessa, Mr Bolsonaro claimed never to have heard of him, despite being neighbours and the president’s youngest son having dated Mr Lessa’s daughter. Élcio Queiroz has been pictured with Mr Bolsonaro and his son Carlos on several occasions, as have other suspects arrested as part of the investigation.
The president’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, previously employed the mother and wife of one of the heads of the “Office of Crime”.
At the time of Ms Franco’s death, Jair Bolsonaro was the only one of Brazil’s presidential candidates not to make a statement, claiming that his opinion “would be too controversial”.
The Marielle Franco investigation has now been sent to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which is the only tribunal fit to try a sitting president. A decision will be made over whether to officially include Jair Bolsonaro in the inquiry.
Meanwhile, left-wing groups have scheduled protests around Brazil this week, demanding the impeachment of Mr Bolsonaro. His vice-president, retired Army general Hamilton Mourão, said the accusations “aren’t enough to topple the government, but they are disturbing.”