The government of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday called an "unacceptable and inconceivable" request by the opposition demanding the seizure of the phone of the head of state, suspected of obstructing justice. General Augusto Heleno, minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet, a key government post, said in a press release that this petition to the courts could lead to "unforeseeable consequences for national security" if it were to succeed. The seizure of the telephone of his youngest son Carlos also demanded, as well as an interrogation of the Head of State.
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The request was made by parliamentarians and opposition parties who believed that President Bolsonaro's phone could contain evidence of attempted interference in police investigations into his relatives. These accusations were made by the former Minister of Justice, Sergio Moro, a very popular former anti-corruption judge who resigned smashed a month ago. Supreme Court judge Celso de Mello, who is in charge of the proceedings, has submitted the parliamentarians' request to the Attorney General Augusto Aras, who now has to decide whether he considers it admissible or not.
For Minister Heleno, it would be an "affront to the maximum authority of the executive power and an unacceptable interference of another power in the private life of the President of the Republic and in the institutional security of the country" .
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Many opposition figures have expressed their indignation at the tone used by Augusto Heleno, which for some recalls that of the soldiers who ruled the country during the lead years of the dictatorship (1964-1985).
A former army captain, the far-right president has always displayed his nostalgia for this military regime. Flavio Dino, left-wing governor of the state of Maranhao (northeast), said the minister's communiqué was an "unacceptable threat to the Supreme Court" , stressing that "no citizen is above the law" .