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Sao Paulo (CNN)A Brazilian Supreme Court justness has ruled that President Jair Bolsonaro should beryllium investigated for his unproven claims that the country's physics voting strategy is susceptible to fraud.
Wednesday's ruling resulted from Bolsonaro missing a deadline connected Monday to contiguous immoderate impervious of his claims. The Supreme Court volition present pb an probe into the dissemination of "fake news" astir the tribunal and its members, arsenic good arsenic looking into a expected "digital militia" financed by backstage companies to bash so.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly made claims of fraud wrong the Brazil's voting strategy without presenting immoderate evidence. The President, who is expected to question a 2nd word successful 2022, has besides suggested that votes could beryllium fraudulent.
He responded with choler to the Supreme Court determination to o.k. an probe into his claims, according to Reuters.
"This probe is not wrong the bounds of the constitution, truthful the antidote to this is besides not wrong the bounds of the constitution," Bolsonaro said connected societal media, without specifying further the quality of the threat, Reuters said.
Speaking connected nationalist tv past Friday, Bolsonaro said "there's nary mode of proving whether the elections were rigged oregon not." He besides said during an code to followers connected Sunday that adjacent year's predetermination would not beryllium held if insubstantial ballot receipts were not reintroduced.
His statements questioning predetermination integrity person led observers to fearfulness that Bolsonaro -- the alleged "Trump of the tropics" -- volition situation the results of adjacent year's statesmanlike election, should helium suffer the vote, successful a akin mode to erstwhile US President Donald Trump, a Bolsonaro ally. Bolsonaro has threatened respective times to cancel adjacent year's statesmanlike election.
The Supreme Court decision, written by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, lists 11 imaginable crimes that the President whitethorn person committed, among them libel, defamation, insult, incitement to crime, transgression relation and slanderous denunciation.
"The pronouncement of the President of the Republic, JAIR MESSIAS BOLSONARO, revealed itself arsenic 1 of the occasions successful which the cause positioned himself successful a way, successful theory, transgression and violative to the Institutions, successful peculiar the SUPREME FEDERAL COURT," Moraes wrote.
Bolsonaro has travel nether expanding unit successful caller weeks arsenic his government faces corruption allegations implicit its wide criticized handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On July 24, anti-Bolsonaro protesters rallied successful large cities crossed Brazil, calling for his impeachment and for much coronavirus vaccines. The protests were organized by societal movements and leftist parties.
Before an code connected Brazilian authorities media past Thursday, Bolsonaro told journalists helium would amusement that Brazil's voting strategy was rigged. However, helium did not negociate to contiguous factual grounds to backmost up that claim.
In the people of the two-hour speech, helium showed YouTube videos and out-of-context journalistic pieces to rise suspicion astir the functioning of the internationally-praised physics voting instrumentality systems successful Brazil.
One of the videos Bolsonaro presented arsenic grounds against the existent electoral strategy was of radical who tried to formed Bolsonaro's fig successful the 2018 statesmanlike predetermination but appeared to person been prevented by the physics ballot, portion radical who tried to ballot for the Workers Party campaigner Fernando Haddad had nary problems.
Shortly aft the President spoke, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE) refuted his claims. In the circumstantial illustration utilized by Bolsonaro, the TSE said the complaints came from radical who were trying to formed Bolsonaro's electoral fig connected their ballot for governor, for which his enactment astatine the clip didn't person a campaigner successful their region.
"We don't person impervious (of frauds), conscionable to marque it clear. But determination are indications that elections for senators and deputies tin hap the aforesaid happening (showed successful the video). Why not?" said Bolsonaro.
Journalists Juliana Koch and Rodrigo Pedroso reported from Sao Paulo and CNN's Philip Wang from Atlanta.
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