Brazil investigates alleged attempted attack on Supreme Court

Brazilian authorities are trying Thursday to understand the motive of the author of an alleged attack on the Supreme Court in Brasilia, found dead after explosions, a few days before a G20 summit.

The man carrying explosives died Wednesday evening in Brasilia after unsuccessfully trying to enter the Supreme Court building.

This alleged attempted attack targeting a major institution of Brazilian democracy awakens memories of the far-right riots against the seats of the executive, legislative and judicial branches in the same square in the capital in January 2023.

It also takes place in a particularly strong context: left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is hosting a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week and a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Brasilia.

“First there was the explosion (of a) car”, then an “individual approached the Federal Supreme Court, tried to enter, did not succeed and the explosion is produced in front of the door,” the vice-governor of Brasilia, Celina Leao, told the press.

According to preliminary information, it is a “suicide”, continued the official, evoking the trail of “a lone wolf”.

According to a police document published by the GloboNews channel, the man's name was Francisco Wanderley Luiz and he was also the owner of the car. During local elections in 2020, he was a candidate for the post of municipal councilor under the colors of the Liberal Party of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right president then in power.

“I condemn with the greatest vehemence the attacks against the Supreme Court (STF) and the Chamber of Deputies. I express my solidarity with the ministers and parliamentarians,” reacted overnight on X the Attorney General Jorge Messias, promising that the federal police will investigate “rigorously and quickly” to “understand the motivations” of the attack.

The Supreme Court is located on the Place des Trois-Pouvoirs, where it faces the presidential palace and the Parliament. Lula was not at the presidential palace at the time of the explosions, according to the presidency.

Car on fire

At the scene of the explosions, investigators carried out their findings with caution, because the body was surrounded by explosives fitted with a timer.

The two detonations occurred within a short period of time, around 7:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. GMT), and caused no injuries.

Police conducting a patrol spotted the vehicle on fire and saw the individual rushing out, reported Sergeant Santos of the military police. “There is some kind of bomb in the car, several explosives connected by bricks, but it did not completely catch fire.”

The Supreme Court had previously said that at the end of a session, “two loud explosions were heard” and the judges and staff on site were evacuated “as a precautionary measure”.

Laiana Costa, an official at the Union Audit Court, another official body, told local media she saw a “man passing”: “Suddenly I heard a noise, I looked behind, There was fire and smoke.”

On January 8, 2023, a week after Lula's return to power, thousands of supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, defeated in the presidential election at the end of 2022, stormed and ransacked the headquarters of institutions on the Place des Trois-Pouvoirs. .

Alexandre de Moraes, a powerful judge of the Supreme Court, is leading investigations into this alleged coup attempt, the spectacle of which recalled the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 in the United States.

“There are crazy people everywhere and of all political tendencies”, reacted Wednesday evening on X Fabio Wajngarten, advisor to Mr. Bolsonaro, after the disclosure of the presumed identity of the attacker. “Making generalizations and amalgamations amounts to villainy and persecution.”

Lula will host a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday and Tuesday, bringing together most of the leaders of the world's main economies.

On Wednesday, he is due to receive the Chinese president on a state visit to Brasilia.