BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s government said on Friday it had made no requests to the United States about former President Jair Bolsonaro and his former justice minister who is being sought by authorities after supporters of the former leader stormed key buildings in the capital.
The Brazilian Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of the former minister, Anderson Torres, who has said he would turn himself in but is now in Florida, as is Bolsonaro.
Dozens of U.S. Congress members asked the United States to revoke Bolsonaro’s visa after his supporters stormed Brasilia earlier this month.
New Justice Minister Flavio Dino told a news conference he would wait until next week to re-evaluate Torres’ case, indicating that an effort to request his extradition could happen if the former minister does not turn himself in.
The arrest warrant against Torres was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, after the storming of public buildings in Brasilia last Sunday. Torres was Brasilia’s security secretary and was removed from his post just hours after the attack.
On Thursday, police found a draft decree in Torres’ house that appeared to be a proposal to interfere in the result of the October election that Bolsonaro lost.
The former justice minister, who says he is vacationing in Orlando, claimed that the reported document was likely among others in a stack being thrown out and was “leaked” in his absence to create a “false narrative.”
Bolsonaro, meanwhile, traveled to the United States on the eve of the end of his term, avoiding passing the presidential sash to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at his inauguration. So far, he has not been formally investigated for Sunday’s acts of vandalism.
Dino affirmed that there had been no action in relation to the former president as well.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Steven Grattan and Alistair Bell)
