Jair Bolsonaro should be charged with 'crimes against humanity' over his handling of the country's Covid crisis, according to a Brazilian senate report.
A six-month inquiry heard devastating witness testimony from those whose relatives were among the 600,000 Brazilians to have died and from experts who say ineffective medicines were used on 'human guinea pigs.'
The 1,200-page report accuses Bolsonaro of 'quackery' for dismissing the virus as a 'little flu' and for delays in ordering vaccines - a vaccine which he has refused to take himself because he says he has natural immunity after catching Covid last year.
Renan Calheiros, the centrist senator who is the lead author, announced a last-minute withdrawal of 'homicide' and 'genocide' charges, after some infighting within the panel.
The inquiry does not have the power to bring charges, but it could have disastrous consequences: the report will be sent to the public prosecutor, the federal court of accounts, and could even be sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where other complaints against Bolsonaro have already been lodged.
President Brazil Jair Bolsonaro on the phone after a meeting with his Colombian counterpart Ivan Duque at the Palacio do Planalto, in the city of Brasilia on Tuesday
Workers remove the body of a Covid victim from his home in Manaus, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, in May 2020
While the accusations are serious, the process may be just symbolic since Bolsonaro enjoys enough congressional support to avoid the opening of impeachment proceedings.
Likewise, Attorney General Augusto Aras, an ally appointed by Bolsonaro, could shield him from any indictment.
The report could also ask that several ministers be charged, as well as three of Bolsonaro's sons, including Flavio - who sits on the committee.
'This report will seem like a sentence, but the government is calm. You can criticise the president's attitude, but not incriminate him,' Fernando Bezerra, head of the government's parliamentary bloc in the senate, told the Uol website.
It is yet another headache for the president, whose popularity has plummeted to an all-time low and who trails leftist former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in polls ahead of next year's general election.
The report was originally due to be presented on Tuesday but had to be put back 24 hours,
