(Brasilia) The scandal of alleged spying on politicians and journalists under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gained momentum Thursday, with a crackdown on suspects and the revelation of the identities of people illegally monitored.
Jair Bolsonaro, in power from 2019 to 2022 and still the undisputed leader of the right and the far right, is not directly targeted by this investigation, unlike his son Carlos, suspected of having coordinated at the time a “hate cabinet” active on social networks.
But it is an additional worry for the former head of state who, targeted by a host of investigations, denounces a “persecution” of the government of the left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The revelation of the names of those allegedly victims of illegal espionage increasingly gives this affair the appearance of a state scandal.
Among them: the influential president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (right), and his predecessor, Rodrigo Maia (center right), according to an investigation report made public Thursday by Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, in charge of the case.
This powerful magistrate, the bête noire of the Bolsonaro clan, is himself cited in this report as one of the people spied on, as are three other members of this Court, including its current president, Luis Roberto Barroso.
The list also includes former Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria (right) and renowned journalists such as Monica Bergamo, political columnist for the daily S. Paulo Newspaperor Vera Magalhaes, from the newspaper The Globe.
“Spying using the state apparatus against people considered adversaries of the former president is a totalitarian and criminal government behavior, worthy of the worst dictatorships,” Rodrigo Maia reacted in a statement.
“Digital Militia”
A few hours before these revelations, the federal police (PF) launched a new large-scale operation at dawn on Thursday, armed with five arrest warrants and seven search warrants.
The arrest warrants target influencers suspected of disinformation and police officers who worked for the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin).
Four of them were arrested, a PF source said.
The targeted influencers and police officers are suspected of being members of a “criminal organization” that created “false profiles” on social networks or “spread false information” about “members of the three powers [exécutif, législatif, judiciaire] and journalists.”
They “took part in an organization infiltrated in Abin to obtain political advantages, produce disinformation, attack political opponents […] and destabilize democratic institutions,” stressed Judge Alexandre de Moraes in the judicial order that authorized Thursday’s police operation.
In February, the PF searched a residence where the Bolsonaro family was staying in the seaside town of Angra dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro, as part of this investigation.
The police also went to addresses linked to Carlos Bolsonaro.
The former president’s second son is suspected of having been at the forefront of a “hate cabinet”, a “digital militia” responsible for denigrating opponents on social networks and disseminating false information.
Carlos Bolsonaro responded on Thursday on the social network X that “no evidence has ever been presented” against him.
Spyware
The scandal broke in October, when an initial police operation resulted in the arrest of two senior Abin officials suspected of illegally using Israeli spyware FirstMile.
Acquired by the Brazilian government at the end of 2018, shortly before Jair Bolsonaro came to power, this software allows the geolocation of individuals through the signal emitted by their mobile phone.
In January, another operation targeted Alexandre Ramagem, former head of Abin and trusted man of the ex-president, now a deputy and candidate for mayor of Rio in the municipal elections in October.
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest of the siblings, said on X on Thursday that the publication of the investigation report was intended “to harm the candidacy” of Mr. Ramagem and the public authorities.
Sentenced last year to eight years of ineligibility, notably for spreading false information, Jair Bolsonaro is surrounded by affairs.
Last week, the PF requested his indictment in another case: he is suspected of having appropriated luxury items offered as state gifts to Brazil by foreign countries, including jewelry received from the Saudi government.