Prosecutors in Brazil are blaming former President Jair Bolsonaro for planting the seeds of election fraud, causing a riot of around 4,000 who stormed the nation's governmental buildings last weekend.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Brazilian prosecutors believe that Bolsonaro incited supporters to conduct the riot in which government buildings were ransacked by leading the rioters to believe his failed campaign against now President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was rigged.
They have asked the country's Supreme Court to open an investigation of the riots and Bolsonaro's role in the unrest.
The report said that body has the authority to open such an investigation and authorize the arrest of those involved, which has caused criticism of bias from Bolsonaro's right-wing supporters.
According to the report, Bolsonaro warned supporters before the Oct. 30 vote that there was a potential for voter fraud and did not concede defeat after losing at the polls.
"In itself, this may seem inoffensive to untrained eyes, but considering the wider context, it appears, in principle, to constitute a serious form of inciting all of his followers to commit crimes," the Journal reported prosecutors saying Friday.
Currently in the United States, Bolsonaro condemned the attacks on the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court, the report said.
The BBC reported that more than 1,200 people are likely to be charged in the rioting, and 1,500 people initially detained are currently being held at Brazilian Federal Police's academy in Brasilia.
The thousands of protestors, some dressed in yellow Brazilian football shirts and waving flags, overran police and stormed the heart of the government in support of Bolsonaro last weekend, the report said.
Bolsonaro has been in a Florida hospital with abdominal pain since before the transition of power to da Silva on Jan. 1, the BBC report said.
He told CNN that he would be returning to Brazil earlier than the planned end of the month departure.
According to the BBC, the riots have led to the arrests of top Bolsonaro government officials including public security chief Anderson Torres, and others for alleged "acts of omission" that led to the riots.
The unrest took place a week after da Silva was sworn into office, the report said.
The new president accused security forces of not doing their duty in stopping the riots.