Brazil charges Bolsonaro, 33 others over alleged coup plot
On Tuesday (Feb. 18), Brazil´s Attorney General's Office filed charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others before the Supreme Court for attempted coup d'état, violent subversion of democratic rule of law, and criminal conspiracy. The indictment also includes military officials, such as former Chief of Staff and Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto and Bolsonaro's former aide-de-camp Mauro Cid.
The charges stem from a Federal Police investigation that indicted the former president in November last year as part of the so-called coup inquiry. The investigation concluded that there was a plot to prevent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from assuming his third term in office.
The case will be judged by the Supreme Court's First Panel, which includes rapporteur Alexandre de Moraes and Justices Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Cármen Lúcia, and Luiz Fux.
If a majority of the justices accept the complaint, Bolsonaro and the other defendants will formally face criminal charges before the Supreme Court.
According to the Court's rules of procedure, its two panels are responsible for handling criminal cases. Since the rapporteur is a member of the First Panel, the indictment will be reviewed by that body.
The trial date has not yet been set, but given legal procedures, the case could be heard in the first half of 2025.
Conspiracy
In the section addressing Bolsonaro, Attorney General Paulo Gonet stated that the former president and General Braga Netto—former minister and Bolsonaro's running mate in the defeated 2022 election—played a central role in orchestrating and executing a "conspiratorial armed plot against democratic institutions."
"The leaders of the organization were the president himself and his vice-presidential candidate, General Braga Netto. Both accepted, encouraged, and carried out actions that, under criminal law, constitute an attack on the existence and independence of the powers and the democratic rule of law," Gonet stated.
Gonet added that the indictment against Bolsonaro outlines the actions of a "structured criminal organization" aimed at thwarting the will of the people, as expressed in the 2022 elections, when Lula was elected president.
"The President [Bolsonaro] increasingly adopted a tone of rupture with institutional norms through repeated public statements expressing dissatisfaction with decisions by higher courts and the electronic voting system in force. This escalation intensified notably when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, considered the strongest contender in the 2022 electoral race, became eligible following the annulment of his criminal convictions," he said.
