Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused before the International Criminal Court in The Hague by more than 60 unions in the country, because of his management in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic. At least one million workers, grouped in the Brazilian network Unisaúde, have held the president responsible for putting the lives of citizens at risk.
The ICC Prosecutor’s Office offers the possibility, under Article 15 of the Rome Statute, its functional letter for organizations, NGOs, and individuals to send documentation on possible crimes, the process can even be done through email.
The document presented by the Brazilian unions accuses Jair Bolsonaro of committing crimes against humanity and of not complying with protection for the Brazilian people as stipulated in the Constitution. According to Unisaúde, this would be the first time that a government has been denounced for high mortality rates due to failures in public health.
Célia Regina Costa, general secretary of the Public Workers Union of Sao Paulo, assured in an interview with the EFE Agency, «Bolsonaro has carried out a genocidal strategy«, also noted that they are aware that the process will take time, and that there are other complaints to the Brazilian president, but that the decision to accuse Bolsonaro before the Hague Court is equally important.
The unions hope that this new accusation against the president increases internal pressure, and changes the logic about the Coronavirus, a disease that has already claimed 88,634 lives in the country.
The spokeswoman for the trade union network also indicated that among the reasons why they accuse Jair Bolsonaro of crimes against humanity, are the irresponsible declarations of the president recommending hydroxychloroquine, a product that is not scientifically proven, and Costa highlighted the contempt Bolsonaro before the pandemic, which he described as «Flu».
Jair Bolsonaro tried to minimize the Coronavirus from the start of the pandemic, like other leaders such as Donald Trump, and Andrés López Obrador. The Brazilian president announced that he became infected with COVID-19 on July 7, and has currently reported that he is recovered and that he managed to beat the virus.