Bolsonaro Fostered Hatred, Says Gilmar Mendes After Bolsonarist Terrorist Attack Against the STF

247 - Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, reacting to Wednesday's (13) Bolsonarist terrorist attack, where a man tried to blow up the Court and killed himself, attributed the event to the ideology of hatred promoted by Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters.

"This event constitutes yet another attack on democratic institutions," Mendes said in a Court session this Thursday (14). "What happened last night is not an isolated incident, unfortunately."

The magistrate added, "The shallow ideology that led to the coup attempt did not emerge suddenly" and stressed that "The discourse of hatred and misinformation was encouraged during the previous government," referring to Jair Bolsonaro.

"With the new government in 2019, this strategy influenced the discourse of the Presidential Palace and its supporters, criminalizing the opposition and systematically attacking oversight institutions," he added, also mentioning former congressman Daniel Silveira's incitement of assaults against STF justices.

The explosions were heard at the end of a session taking place in the STF plenary, and the Court's ministers were evacuated safely. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not in the Palácio do Planalto at the time; he had left around 5:30 PM.

The Federal Police (PF) opened an investigation into the case. Forensic experts will investigate the explosions using a strategy similar to the reconstruction of events used to identify the crimes of January 8 of last year, when the buildings of the Three Powers were attacked by Bolsonarist terrorists. (With information from Agência Brasil).