Tuesday, the prosecutor general of Brazil officially charged the former president Jair Bolsonaro for having tried a coup to remain in office after his electoral defeat in 2022, in a plot to poison his successor and current president Luiz inácio Lula Da Silva and kill a judge from the Supreme Court.
The Attorney General Paulo Gonet alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 other people who participated in a plan to stay in power. The alleged conspiracy, he wrote, understood a plan to poison Lula and shoot down the judge of the Supreme Court who died Alexandre de Moraes, an enemy of the former president.
“The members of the criminal organization have structured a plan at the presidential palace to attack the institutions, aimed at bringing down the system of powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of” green and yellow dagger “”, wrote Gonet in an indictment of 272 pages. “The plan was designed and taken into account the president, and he accepted it.”
Bolsonaro is often visible in the national and green football and green football jersey and the colors have become associated with its political movement.
Bolsonaro’s defense team said they had made the accusations with “dismay and indignation”, adding in a statement that the former president “has never accepted a movement aimed at deconstructing the state of democratic law or the institutions that have underpinned it “.
Bolsonaro’s son Flávio Bolsonaro, who is a senator, said on the social platform X that the indictment was “empty” and that there was no evidence of reprehensible acts. He accused the prosecutor’s office of serving “Lula’s harmful interests”.
In November, Brazil federal police submitted an 884 -page report with Gonet detailing the program. They lighten a systematic effort to sow the distrust of the electoral system, writing a decree to provide legal coverage for the plot, putting pressure on military brass to support the plan and encourage a riot in the capital.
In the indictment, Gonet described the alleged crimes as part of a chain of events expressed with a primordial objective of preventing Bolsonaro from leaving his duties, “contrary to the result of the popular will in the polls”.
The Supreme Court will analyze the accusations and, if accepted, Bolsonaro will be tried.
Bolsonaro previously denied allegations
The former chief denied the reprehensible acts.
“I have no concerns about the accusations, Zero,” Bolsonaro told journalists earlier Tuesday during a visit to the Senate in Brasilia.
“Have you seen the coup decree, by chance? You didn’t do it. I don’t have it either,” he said.
Fabio Wajngarten, Bolsonaro lawyer, did not immediately comment on the accusations, but said that there will be a statement without saying when.
In addition to being accused of having participated in a coup, the 34 accused are accused of having participated in an armed criminal organization, attempted violence of violence of the law of democratic law, of damages qualified by the Violence and serious threat against state assets, and deterioration of the heritage listed, according to a press release from the prosecutor’s press office.
Gonet said the criminal organization he charged “had as leaders [then] The president himself and his running mate, General Braga Clean. “”
“The two have accepted, stimulated and accomplished acts which are described in our criminal legislation as attacking the existence and independence of (branches) of power and democratic domination,” wrote Gonet in his report.
The alleged crimes have variable sanctions. If Bolsonaro is found guilty of having attempted a coup d’etat and the violent abolition of the Domocratic rule of law, he could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison, according to the country’s criminal code.
The accusation acts, based on manuscripts, digital files, calculation sheets and exchanges of messages, expose a program to disturb the democratic order, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“Historical” charges
The accusations are “historic”, said Luis Henrique Machado, lawyer and criminal professor at IDP University in Brasilia, adding that he expects the Supreme Court to accept the accusations and put Bolsonaro in trial before the end of next year.
“The accusations show that Brazil institutions are robust, independent and agile,” said Machado. “They are a model for other countries where democracy is in danger.”
Bolsonaro is forbidden to run for the 2026 elections after the judges with the main electoral courtyard of the country decided that he had abused his power and thrown doubts not based on the country’s electronic voting system.
After Tuesday’s charges, Bolsonaro “will position himself as a victim,” predicted Carlos Melo, professor of political science at Insper University in Sao Paulo. Bolsonaro previously said that his legal misfortunes were an attempt to prevent him from returning to the post.
“There are surveys saying that he would be competitive in the 2026 elections against Lula, one of them published today,” said Melo. “There will be political dust, but it will settle down.”
