On May 3, the Federal Police launched Operation Venire to clarify the actions of a criminal association formed to commit the crimes of inserting false vaccination data against COVID-19 into the SI-PNI and RNDS systems of the Ministry of Health.
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Brazilian federal police Wednesday searched former President Jair Bolsonaro's mansion.
Sixteen search and seizure warrants and six preventive arrest warrants are being served in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, in addition to analyzing the material seized during the searches and holding interviews with people who have information about the facts.
The false insertions, which occurred between November 2021 and December 2022, resulted in the alteration of the truth about a legally relevant fact, that is, the condition of immunization against COVID-19 of the beneficiaries.
With this, such people were able to issue the respective vaccination certificates and use them to circumvent the current health restrictions imposed by public authorities (Brazil and the United States) aimed at preventing the spread of contagious disease, in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic.
The investigation indicates that the group's objective would be to keep the identity element cohesive in relation to its ideological guidelines, in this case, to support the speech aimed at attacks on vaccination against COVID-19.
The actions took place within the police investigation that investigates the performance of what is conventionally called “digital militias”, in proceedings before the Federal Supreme Court.
The investigated facts constitute, in theory, the crimes of infraction of preventive sanitary measure, criminal association, insertion of false data in information systems and corruption of minors.
Speaking to reporters outside his mansion, Bolsonaro said he was surprised by the police search and denied he falsified any vaccine records.
"I wasn't vaccinated. Full stop," Bolsonaro said. "I have nothing else to say." ■
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