Since the beginning of the epidemic in Brazil, about 684,000 people have died and 34.5 million cases have been recorded.
The symbolic sentence after the public trial that the Brazilian head of state underwent today was read at a hearing at the University of São Paulo by members of this international court of opinion, established in Rome in 1979 whose decisions make moral but are not. Legal in nature, where no penalties are imposed.
The Brazilian leader was tried this year during the 50th session of the Permanent People’s Court (TPP) in response to a complaint filed in May by several Brazilian human rights organizations, such as the Arens Commission and the Indigenous Peoples Commission of Brazil.
The token jury of the panel concluded that Bolsonaro had directly contributed to the deaths of a large number of Brazilians due to his government’s omission and misguided actions in the fight against the pandemic.
Bolsonaro has gone so far as to treat Covid-19 as a “cold”, delaying the procurement of vaccines; questioning the effectiveness of immune systems and opposing social distancing measures recommended around the world.
“Bolsonaro has been proven to have committed two illegal acts: a serious violation of human rights and a crime against humanity because he chose a health policy incompatible with isolation, prevention of infection and vaccination,” according to the sentence read by the Argentine Eugenio. Raoul Zfaroni, currently a member of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The ruling adds that the Brazilian government’s handling of the epidemic has “maliciously caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people”.
“There is no doubt that thousands of lives have been lost as a result of the decisions of the government led by Bolsonaro. Nor can this hatred be considered probable, because the deaths were caused by the intent to privilege the economy at the expense of human life,” the sentence added.
However, the court dismissed the charge of genocide against Bolsonaro, due to difficulties in proving that the president had intended to cause the deaths.
The resolution recommends that the complainants file a complaint with the International Criminal Court.
The jury responsible for the conviction consisted of a group of renowned international jurists such as former Italian judge Luigi Ferragolli. Argentinian Zavaroni and Alejandro Machia; Portugal’s Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Luis Moita, Switzerland’s Jan Ziegler and Britain’s Vivian Stern.
