Brazilian federal police have filed a criminal complaint against former President Jair Bolsonaro on suspicion of "falsifying vaccination records".
An earlier investigation by the country's General Inspectorate (General Audit Office) had revealed that Bolsonaro's vaccination records were forged.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, in addition to Bolsonaro, a criminal complaint was also filed against Mauro Cid, one of his former aides who was arrested in May last year as part of the investigation.
According to the sources, Bolsonaro was charged with 'entering false data' into the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) and 'forming a criminal organization'.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court made public the police indictment alleging that Bolsonaro and 16 others entered false information into the public health database, making it appear that the then president, his 12-year-old daughter and some of his entourage had received the Covid-19 vaccine.
The police accuse Bolsonaro and his aides of falsifying the Health Ministry's database.
However, the Brazilian Attorney General's Office will have the final say on whether to use the police indictment to file criminal charges against Bolsonaro in the Supreme Court.
The indictment is one of a number of criminal proceedings targeting Bolsonaro, who led the country from 2019 to 2022.
Bolsonaro, who claimed that the investigation against him was specifically and selectively targeting him, told Reuters that the whole world knows he has not been vaccinated against Covid, but that he is at peace.
Bolsonaro said, "This is a selective investigation. I am calm, I don't owe anything to anyone. The whole world knows that I have not been vaccinated."
Bolsonaro, who stands out with his populist policies, did not take seriously the vaccination and social distancing rules introduced due to the coronavirus, which killed more than 700 thousand people in Brazil. In addition, he constantly made statements ridiculing these measures.
Bolsonaro was one of the few world leaders who opposed vaccination during the pandemic, openly breaking health restrictions and encouraging the public to follow his example.
Claiming that the investigation against him was specifically targeting him selectively, Bolsonaro told Reuters that the whole world knew he had not been vaccinated against Covid, but that he was at peace.
Bolsonaro said, "This is a selective investigation. I am calm, I don't owe anything to anyone. The whole world knows that I have not been vaccinated."
Bolsonaro, who stands out with his populist policies, did not take seriously the vaccination and social distancing rules introduced due to the coronavirus, which killed more than 700 thousand people in Brazil. In addition, he constantly made statements ridiculing these measures.
Bolsonaro was one of the few world leaders who opposed vaccination during the pandemic, openly breaking health restrictions and encouraging the public to follow his example.
