The Fort Worth Press - Brazil Supreme Court orders probe into Flavio Bolsonaro for 'slander' of Lula

According to the Supreme Court order -- obtained by AFP on Wednesday -- the probe centers on a January 3 social media post by Bolsonaro, a right-wing senator and son of jailed former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

In it, the younger Bolsonaro sought to link the left-wing Lula to drug trafficking, money laundering, "support for terrorists and dictatorships" and electoral fraud.

He paired images of the left-wing Brazilian president with Venezuelan former leader Nicolas Maduro, captioned: "Lula will be exposed."

Maduro was toppled from power in a US military operation on January 3 and whisked to the United States to face trial on drugs trafficking and weapons charges.

The Supreme Court said Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the investigation at the request of the justice ministry, which deemed that Flavio Bolsonaro "falsely, publicly, and disparagingly attributed criminal acts to the President of the Republic."

Flavio Bolsonaro denounced the probe -- the latest ordered by the Supreme Court against the Bolsonaro clan -- as a "clear attempt to restrict freedom of expression."

In a statement he insisted that he would not submit to "intimidation or the use of the police and judicial apparatus to silence the opposition" and demanded that Lula's government "explain its relations with the Venezuelan dictatorship."

Federal police have 60 days to carry out the initial investigation before prosecutors decide whether to bring charges.

- Tight race -

The US-backed Bolsonaros and their supporters accuse the Supreme Court, and Moraes particularly, of hounding the former president and his family to disqualify them politically.

The Brazilian left, however, sees Moraes as a fearless defender of Brazil's young democracy in the face of far-right attacks on the country's institutions.

Bolsonaro, 44, has emerged as the leading figure on the Brazilian right after his father designated his eldest son as his political heir.

Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence after he was found guilty of having led a failed scheme to prevent Lula from taking office and retain power after losing 2022 presidential elections.

In elections in October, Flavio Bolsonaro is expected to be the main rival of Lula, 80, who is seeking a fourth term.

According to polling data released Wednesday by the firm Genial/Quaest, Bolsonaro would currently edge Lula in a head-to-head election.

He has campaigned as a more moderate figure than his father, whose time in office was marked by rampant deforestation of the Amazon forest and Covid denialism, among other controversies.

W.Matthews--TFWP