Brazil's top court tosses out probe into Bolsonaro's vaccine records

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday tossed out a probe into whether former President Jair Bolsonaro forged vaccine records, a court decision seen by Reuters showed.

Moraes' ruling came after Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet earlier this week decided not to charge Bolsonaro with fraud, saying he could not press charges based only on allegations from a plea-bargain deal made with a former presidential aide.

The move comes days after a Supreme Court panel voted to put Bolsonaro on trial as part of another case, in which he is accused of allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government after he lost the 2022 election.

Bolsonaro's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Moraes in his decision agreed with Gonet, emphasizing that Brazilian law does not allow charges to be presented based solely on a plea-bargain deal.

Criminal charges, the justice wrote, must be supported by "autonomous and independent evidence, in addition to information arising from plea-bargain deals duly ratified by other evidence."

Federal Police had formally accused Bolsonaro last year of fraud on his vaccination records, saying former aide Mauro Cid fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccination records for Bolsonaro and his daughter Laura at the request of the then-president.