Brazil senators to vote on urging charges for Bolsonaro

By DÉBORA ÁLVARES
Associated Press

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A Brazilian Senate committee is voting Tuesday on a report recommending President Jair Bolsonaro face a series of criminal indictments for actions that allegedly added to the world’s second-highest death toll. The report is the culmination of their six-month investigation of the government’s handling of the pandemic. Its author, Sen. Renan Calheiros, is calling for Bolsonaro to face charges ranging from charlatanism and inciting crime to misuse of public funds and crimes against humanity, and so hold him responsible for many of Brazil’s more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths. The decision on whether to file most of the charges will be up to Brazil’s prosecutor-general, a Bolsonaro appointee who is widely viewed as protecting the president. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing.