RIO DE JANEIRO: President Jair Bolsonaro must pay a fine for failing to adhere to state health safety regulations at a public event, the governor of Maranhao state said, as Brazil struggles to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Health authorities filed the case against Bolsonaro “for the promotion in Maranhao of gatherings with no sanitary safeguards. The law applies to everyone,” the governor of the northeastern state, leftist Flavio Dino, tweeted late Friday. Dino reminded the public that gatherings of more than 100 people are banned in his state, and the use of face masks is mandatory.

Bolsonaro’s office has 15 days to appeal, after which the amount of the fine will be set. The office did not answer requests for comment from AFP. On Friday, Bolsonaro handed out rural property titles in Acailandia, some 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Sao Luis, capital of Maranhao state.

At the event the maskless Bolsonaro blasted Governor Dino as a “chubby dictator.”