Brazil: 'Supreme Court will not tolerate threats', Chief Justice warns President Bolsonaro

The Chief Justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court, Wednesday, said that President Jair Bolsonaro was undermining the apex court by disobeying its rulings after the rightist leader refused to accept a verdict by one of its justices. Slamming the 66-year-old, Chief Justice Luiz Fux said that the apex judicial body will not tolerate any threats to its authority. This comes a day after Bolsonaro addressed his supporters who rallied in the capital Brasilia, Sao Paulo and other cities ahead of re-eletion campaign. 

“The Supreme Court will not tolerate threats to the authority of its decisions,” Chief Justice Luiz Fux said in a court session. 

Earlier, Bolsonaro addressed a rally in Brasilia where he said, "either the head of this power gets in line or this power can suffer what we do not want", giving an indirect threat to the Brazilian Court. Slamming the 66-year-old for the same, Fux asserted that insinuating people to discourage the court was a challenge to democracy and a crime that Congress has to deal with. 

Only God will take me out': Bolsonaro

Polls show Bolsonaro’s approval ratings have sunk to record lows owing to his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, corruption charges and staggering economic crisis in the country. The Latin American country is set to hold its Presidential elections in October 2022 and would see the right-wing trailing former President Luiz Inácio Lula da, Silva. Meanwhile, speaking in Sao Paulo on the occasion of Independence Day ahead of the re-election campaign, Bolsonaro reckoned that "only God could take him out of power."

“Only God will take me out of Brasilia,” he told a crowd of 114,000 supporters on Sao Paulo’s Paulista Avenue on 7 September afternoon, according to local military police estimates.

Throughout his tenure, Bolsonaro has been a controversial figure and had previously created headlines with his stance on corruption, environmental degradation and coronavirus pandemic. It is to mention that Bolsonaro has been accused of corruption and malfeasance. Last month, he was accused of engaging in a plot to skim the salaries of his aides. In June, three Brazilian senators formally accused him of malfeasance before the Supreme Court over allegations he failed to have a top ally investigated for suspicion of massive corruption in the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. 

Image: aprovinciadopa/Twitter