A video shows a man who looks like Jair Bolsonaro approaching a whale.
The former Brazilian president is under investigation on suspicion of another crime, With Jair Bolsonaro opposite, writes The Guardian. It is suspected that the politician intentionally disturbed a fin whale while jet skiing.
During his tenure, Bolsonaro was accused of pursuing a targeted, anti-environmental policy, for example, significant destruction took place in the Amazon after he took power. The latest alleged case of the far-right ex-president took place near São Sebastião, on the southeastern coast of Brazil.
In June of this year, a man who looked like Bolsonaro was captured approaching a fin whale about 15 meters away. According to the iG news portal, the animal showed behavior that indicates stress.
Brazilian legislation prohibits the intentional disturbance of cetaceans, such as fin whales.
According to the rules controlled by the environmental protection agency Ibama, motor boats cannot come closer than 100 meters to such species, it is also forbidden to follow groups of dolphins or whales, to enter their space, and to make excessive noise within 300 meters of any cetacean.
Another right-wing politician was recently fined 2,500 reais (roughly HUF 176,000) for committing a similar offense in the same region. Just over a decade ago, Bolsonaro himself was fined for illegal fishing in a marine reserve off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
According to the former president, he is being persecuted by Brazilian politicians and environmentalists, and the new case is the latest example of this. In his announcement, he made a derogatory comment on the Brazilian Minister of Justice, Flávio Dinowhom he compared to a whale.
A year after losing the presidency, Bolsonaro is facing numerous investigations, including suspected of attempting to subvert the rule of law and illicit enrichment. According to some analysts, the politician, who has been banned from running in elections until 2030, could even end up in prison.
