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Brazil judge states suicide bomber wanted to explode Supreme Court

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said on Thursday that the suicide bomber who tried to enter the top court on Wednesday had intended to explode the structure, casting it as part of a. growing wave of attacks on democracy.

The surges outside the court and in a neighboring parking. lot, which federal authorities called attacks, raised security. concerns days ahead of the G20 top in Rio de Janeiro and. Chinese President Xi Jinping's check out to the capital Brasilia.

Police identified the man who killed himself in a blast. outside the Supreme Court as a previous city council prospect. from ex-President Jair Bolsonaro's right-wing celebration with a. history of heated political rhetoric online.

A cops report seen , validated as authentic. by individuals familiar with the matter, said Francisco Wanderley. Luiz, 59, tossed an item at the court building that triggered no. damage, then laid on the ground and exploded a homemade bomb. that killed him.

Brazil's electoral records show Luiz lost a 2020 race for. city board in Rio do Sul, in the southern state of Santa. Catarina, as a member of Bolsonaro's conservative Liberal Celebration.

Moraes, who is among Supreme Court justices targeted with. threats for managing investigations into Bolsonaro and his. advocates, said Luiz may have acted alone however the attack was. the outcome of rhetoric going back to the Bolsonaro government.

He called the explosions the worst attack on the Supreme. Court because fans of Bolsonaro raided the structure in a. riot last year.

Bolsonaro distanced himself from Wednesday night's. violence, saying on social networks that it was a separated. incident caused by an individual with mental health issues.

Authorities discovered more dynamites at a house that Luiz leased. in Brasilia, which were detonated with a bomb disposal robot. His mobile phone was later found in a parked trailer.

Investigators examined his body on Thursday morning,. outfitted in a green jacket and trousers with signs similar to a. deck of cards, as it lay in the Plaza of the 3 Powers, an. iconic square linking Brazil's 3 branches of federal government.

It was the scene of chaos on Jan. 8 in 2015 when Bolsonaro. supporters vandalized government structures to oppose his. electoral defeat to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In the weeks before those riots in the capital, cops. foiled a bomb plot near the Brasilia airport inspired by. Bolsonaro's unwarranted claims of a taken election.

Before and after losing the 2022 race to Lula, Bolsonaro. sowed doubts about the authenticity of an electoral system run by. the courts and attacked Supreme Court decisions as invalid.

Brazil's leading electoral court barred Bolsonaro from public. workplace through 2030 due to that rhetoric, and federal authorities are. examining his function in an alleged coup plot after the vote. He has actually rejected any misdeed and his party insists he will be. its governmental prospect in 2026.

Wednesday's blasts in the heart of the capital could bring. fresh attention to that police probe into Bolsonaro, which was. expected to wrap up this month.

The first surge went off in a car park some 300. meters from the Supreme Court structure and blew open the trunk. of an automobile owned by Luiz. Other blasts seconds apart went off in. front of the court in the square where cops found his body.

The Supreme Court justices had just ended a plenary session. when the blasts were heard and they left safely, the court. stated in a declaration.

Lula had actually left the executive palace, throughout the square from. the court, less than an hour before the surges.

(source: Reuters)