Investigations against Eduardo Bolsonaro: Focus on threats against judiciary!

Investigations against Eduardo Bolsonaro: Focus on threats against judiciary!

Brasilien - On May 27, 2025, the Brazilian public prosecutor will initiate investigations against Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Eduardo Bolsonaro is accused of having spoken "threats" against judges, prosecutors and police officers who investigate his father. Attorney General Paulo Gonet recorded this allegations in a letter to the Supreme Court and is a serious matter that cannot be ignored. Eduardo Bolsonaro is also accused of applying against the people mentioned, which include the withdrawal of visas and freezing assets.

In another context, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced that the United States may be considering sanctions against judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is involved in a procedure against Jair Bolsonaro. Eduardo Bolsonaro has received Rubios explanation positively on social networks, which further heats up the political confrontation. His father, Jair Bolsonaro, is accused of trying a coup against his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after his election defeat in 2022. The Supreme Court started with the hearing of important witnesses in this procedure in May.

political and legal consequences

In a conviction, Jair Bolsonaro threatens a prison sentence of over 40 years. Due to unavoidable allegations of election, he is currently excluded from the political office and cannot participate in the presidential election in the coming year. Often referred to as a "tropical trump" Jair Bolsonaro, in an interview with Wall Street Journal in November 2022, expressed hope that Donald Trump may put pressure on the Brazilian judiciary to influence his situation.

These developments come at a time when Brazil in the 2023 corruption index of Transparency International has slipped by ten places and now stands in 104 out of 180 countries. Brazil cuts off less than comparable emerging countries such as China (76), South Africa (83) and India (93). The organization criticizes the political agitation of the judiciary and the decline in the fight against corruption.

corruption and its effects

The Brazilian judiciary faces numerous challenges. Judge Dias Toffoli from the Supreme Court recently suspended the payment of a fine of CHF 8.5 billion (approx. CHF 1.5 billion) by the construction group Novonor, formerly Odebrecht. Odebrecht has admitted corruption and was involved in Brazil's greatest corruption scandal, the LAVA-Jato process from 2014.

toffoli declared the judgments of the Lava-Jato procedure against Odebrecht to be invalid, since the evidence was not legally collected. He also issued a penalty payment of CHF 10.3 billion (CHF 1.8 billion) of the J&F-Holding of the Meat Group JBS. It is expected that other companies that are affected by the LAVA-Jato procedure will also be canceled their punishments. These developments have led to a noticeable decline in social consensus for effective fighting corruption in Brazil.

In this complex structure, it becomes clear that the Brazilian judiciary is increasingly between political pressure and its duty to ensure justice and the state of the state. The incorrect interaction between case law and politics not only weakened legal certainty in Brazil, but also questioned the trust of the population in the institutions.