Bolsonaro due to face plea for indictment
WW2 airman is buried in Albania
THE mortal remains of a Second World War British airman were formally buried in a war cemetery in Albania yesterday, a year after their discovery at the site where his bomber crashed.
Sergeant Peter Twiddy was laid to rest at the Tirana Park Memorial Cemetery – a British war cemetery – on what would have been his 100th birthday, and the 78th anniversary of the crash.
Twiddy died, aged 22, when his Halifax bomber from the RAF’s 148 Squadron went down on October 20, 1943, in Dukat, south-west of Tirana.
AREPORT due to be presented to Brazil’s Senate yesterday will recommend that President Jair Bolsonaro should be indicted on criminal charges for allegedly bungling Brazil’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and pushing the country’s death toll to the secondhighest in the world.
The report, which is based on six months of work, calls for Bolsonaro to be indicted on nine charges, from charlatanism and inciting crime all the way up to crimes against humanity, according to two members of a Senate committee that has been investigating the government’s handling of the pandemic. They agreed to discuss details of the report ahead of its public presentation, but only if not quoted by name.
The report can still be modified before the committee vote on October 26, and the decision on whether to file most of the charges would be up to Brazil’s prosecutor-general, who was appointed by the president. Analysts say it remains unclear if the prosecutor-general would act.
Recommended charges also include misuse of public funds and “prevarication”, which entails delaying or refraining from action required as part of a public official’s duty for reasons of personal interest.
Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing, and has repeatedly accused the investigation of being a political instrument aimed at sabotaging him.
Critics have denounced Bolsonaro for downplaying Covid-19’s severity, ignoring international health guidelines on masks and restrictions on activity designed to prevent the spread of the virus, touting unproven treatments and delaying the acquisition of vaccines.
Anger over
the
president’s response prompted the creation of the Senate committee in April, which has investigated allegations that Bolsonaro’s management of the pandemic caused many of Brazil’s more than 600,000 deaths from the disease.
Senator Renan Calheiros, who drafted the report, was scheduled to present its final version to the 11-person committee. An earlier draft had nearly 1,200 pages. The document has to be approved by the committee before being sent to the office of the prosecutor-general, who would decide whether to carry forward the investigation and eventually pursue charges.
In Brazil, members of Senate committees can investigate, but do not have the power to indict. Regardless of whether the prosecutor-general acts, the report’s allegations are expected to fuel criticism of the farright leader, whose approval ratings have slumped ahead of his 2022 reelection campaign.
Even during the worst throes of the pandemic, Bolsonaro steadfastly rejected restrictions on activity, claiming the poor would suffer worse hardship if the economy ground to a halt. He continues to argue that the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine is effective in treating Covid-19, though major studies have found it to be ineffective and potentially dangerous.
During six months of investigation, senators obtained thousands of documents and heard testimony from more than 60 people.
“This committee collected evidence that abundantly demonstrated that the federal government was silent and chose to act in a non-technical and reckless manner,” according to an earlier draft of the report, which was reviewed by the Associated Press on Tuesday.