translated from Spanish: Brazilian indigenous people accuse Bolsonaro of genocide before the International Criminal Court

The Brazilian indigenous people on Monday filed an indictment with the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, for an alleged crime of genocide, in a new attempt to hold the president criminally responsible before an international court. The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) asked the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to examine the alleged “crimes” perpetrated by Bolsonaro against indigenous peoples, especially during the covid-19 pandemic, the organization said in a statement. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court makes it possible, through Article 15 of its founding charter, the Rome Statute, for organisations, NGOs and even individuals to send information documenting alleged crimes, a process that can even be done by means of an e-mail message. Annually, the Office of the Prosecutor receives hundreds of these messages, which are treated as “communications”, not as complaints or complaints of criminal responsibility.” We believe that there are ongoing events in Brazil that constitute crimes against humanity, genocide and ecocide. Given the inability of the justice system in Brazil to investigate and judge these behaviors, we denounce them before the international community, through the International Criminal Court, “said the legal coordinator of Apib, Eloy Terena.De agreement with the organization, the leader of the Brazilian ultra-right has encouraged various “attacks” against indigenous peoples and their territories since coming to power, in January 2019.In that sense, the Apib cited its “explicit refusal to demarcate new lands, through bills, decrees and ordinances that attempt to legalize invasive activities, stimulating conflicts.” Bolsonaro has already been the subject of other similar accusations before The Hague, including the one filed in the middle of last year by a coalition of more than 60 health professionals’ unions over the president’s omission during the pandemic, which has already left more than 560,000 dead and 20.1 million cases.

Original source in Spanish