Bolsonaro case: Which practices of the former president can be investigated by the PF?

Federal Police (PF) satellite this Wednesday morning (3) search and seizure orders, of which ex-president Jair Bolsonaro was one of the targets. Investigations suggest that Bolsonaro’s vaccination card has been scammed.

Today’s actions, called Operation Venire, were authorized by Alexandre de Moraes, Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF). Police and justice are also investigating whether information about the covid-19 vaccine has been falsified in the receipts of the former president’s wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, and the former chief executive’s teenage daughter, Laura Bolsonaro.

Although Bolsonaro was called to testify about the case, he refused to testify. To continue the investigation,Federal police confiscated a cellular device belonging to the politician..

“My cell phone is in KM, Michelle’s was seen there and they left it to her. My pistol was confiscated. Bolsonaro said that I cannot be unarmed in my house with PF, it is not safe,” he said. young pan.

According to columnist Bela Megale, Bolsonaro uses WhatsApp as his main communication tool to post reports and share social media content with members of your clan. Messages were always deleted once sent and he changed his number several times.

What will be reviewed by the PF on Bolsonaro’s mobile?

Despite careful attention to the messenger’s use, the PF’s arrest creates tensions between Bolsonaro’s allies. According to this sphereThere are some fears that experts will find exchanges of messages in other investigations that could incriminate the former president.

Matheus Puppe, a partner in TMT and Privacy and Data Protection at Maneira Advogados, explains Technology World It ensures that after PF captures the investigated cell phone, it performs a ritual to preserve the integrity of the evidence, separating and isolating the electronics so that there is no internal interference (someone gets it to delete the content) or outside interference (use of remote software). to destroy files).

KM performs the so-called “forensic copy”, which is an exact copy of mobile phones, and only then performs the actual specialization. In this case, content such as:

• Text messages (SMS);
• Folders;
• phone calls;
• Chat applications (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal);
• geolocation data;
• Social media;
• Internet networks have been accessed.

“Experts do this scan to find out where the person being investigated is, who they’re talking to, and depending on the technology available, they can still verify deleted information, applications that hide themselves from other applications and software. After use, the information is collected, analysis is done and a report containing the results possible legal evidence. is added to the survey,” he explains.

The expert says there are several “tricks” used to check for classified evidence. One is an e-mail sharing method, in which both communicating people draft messages to make it harder to interrupt.

“In a more complex task, it is even possible to analyze metadata. These are small inscriptions stored in images, from which, for example, it is possible to discover the place, time and some other details of a person’s life,” adds Puppe.

Protection of personal information

Bolsonaro’s seized cell phone has been sent to the National Criminalistics Institute (INC) in Brazil, where it needs to be examined. Score by criminal lawyer Adib Abdouni Technology World declares that the person subject to the search and seizure order cannot refuse to hand over the device, but is not required to provide the password. In this case, the password is not mandatory because, under Brazilian law, citizens are not required to present evidence against themselves.

“There is a so-called chain of evidence that guarantees that the entire procedure will be followed for any hypothetical evidence obtained on the mobile phone to be valid. One of the most important things is the storage of the device, which must be sealed, for example, in the presence of the defense. The rules of procedure are important so that there are no disruptions in the process.

After the inspection, the device is returned to the user, which takes place without a certain period of time. Abdouni says that depending on the expert’s work, the delegate or other interested party should request an extension of custody of the mobile phone.

As the process in Bolsonaro’s case involved the possible falsification of vaccination card data, that would be the evidence sought. However, if there are signs of other possible crimes, everything will be triggered in a new process.

“The limit to a device search is personal information. Nothing of a private nature can be uploaded to the records. That is, if non-criminal information is found, that data will be destroyed and not used for any purpose. If anything personal is leaked, the agent can even be arrested for abuse of power,” concludes Abdouni.