FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2019 file photo, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro enters the stage at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland. Bolsonaro remains in the semi-intensive unit of a hospital in Sao Paulo with signs of a possible pneumonia infection, the Albert Einstein Hospital said in a statement Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
February 12, 2019 - 7:21 AM
RIO DE JANEIRO - A Brazilian Supreme Court justice is suspending two criminal proceedings against the country's leader.
Monday's ruling by Justice Luiz Fux puts a hold on charges of slander and incitation to rape against President Jair Bolsonaro.
Brazil's constitution says that serving presidents can't be prosecuted for cases unrelated to their presidency.
Both cases go back to 2014, when Bolsonaro told a congresswoman she "did not deserve" to be raped because she was "ugly" and "not his type".
Left-leaning Congresswoman Maria do Rosario had called him a rapist during heated arguments in 2003 and 2014.
During the presidential campaign, Bolsonaro was also charged with racism and discrimination for a 2017 speech in Rio de Janeiro, but a court panel dropped the accusations.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019