The Federal Police of Brazil have accused former President Jair Bolsonaro and 16 others of falsifying their COVID-19 vaccination records. The investigations, which began in January 2023, revealed that false information was inserted into the public health database to acquire counterfeit vaccination certificates, facilitating their travels to the U.S. amidst widespread COVID-19 circulation.
Criminal charges against the former president include association with criminals and the insertion of false data into a public system. If found guilty, Bolsonaro’s punishment could range up to 12 years imprisonment.
Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Fabio Wajngarten, labels these accusations against the former president as a “political persecution”, equating them to an “absurd” previous investigation where Bolsonaro was accused of intimidating a whale.
Opposing global vaccination campaigns, the former president flouted World Health Organization restrictions, advising the public to do the same and disregard confinement measures. Bolsonaro’s response to the pandemic was criticized both nationally and internationally, and he has previously been brought before the International Criminal Court in a lawsuit claiming his response to the pandemic amounted to genocide. In addition, a report compiled by Brazilian senators found Bolsonaro accountable for the COVID-19 inflicted deaths of over 300,000 individuals.
Besides this indictment, Bolsonaro has been subject to multiple other investigations. These include accusations of committing genocide against the indigenous Yanomami people of the Amazon; unlawfully spying on political rivals, and alleged involvement in a coup attempt following his defeat to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in December 2022’s presidential election. Bolsonaro has been implicated as the instigator behind the events known as the “January 8 riots“.
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