Prosecutor charges ex-President Bolsonaro over alleged coup plot

The Chief Prosecutor of Brazil accused former President Jair Bolsonaro of having led an attempted coup after the ex-leader was defeated by his left rival during the 2022 presidential election.

According to the prosecutor, the alleged plot was aimed at preventing Bolsonaro’s successor in power, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to take office and included a plan to poison Lula.

Bolsonaro, 69, denies any reprehensible act and says that he is the victim of a political witch hunt.

It is now up to the Supreme Court of Brazil to decide to accept the prosecutor’s accusations and put Bolsonaro and 33 other accused in trials.

In a sign of the way in which divided Brazil remains two and a half years after the bitterly fought presidential election, Bolsonaro’s criticisms celebrated the news of the accusations, saying that the former president belonged to prison, while his supporters insisted on the fact that he was innocent.

The emphasis is placed on the judge of the Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes, who will have to weigh the advantages of the accusations brought by the chief prosecutor and decide whether the case should go to the trial stadium.

There is no deadline for Mr. Moraes to make his decision, but the legal experts cited in the Brazilian media said they expected him to decide in favor of a trial, which could take place later this year.

Political analysts claim that a potential trial could have an impact on the 2026 presidential election.

While Bolsonaro is forbidden to run for the elections until 2030 for having falsely affirmed that the Brazil voting system was vulnerable to fraud, there remains a strong political force.

Many believe that he could use a potential test as a platform for his agenda.

In his 272 -page report, the Attorney General Paulo Gonet said he had concluded that Bolsonaro and the 33 other accused had formed a criminal group who had tried to provoke a coup against the newly elected government of Lula – a allegation that those named have denied.

The document alleys that Bolsonaro and its candidate Vice-President Walter Braga Clean directed the group.

“Allied with other individuals, including civilians and soldiers, they tried to prevent, in a coordinated manner, the result of the 2022 presidential elections that have filled,” he said.

According to the report, the alleged conspiracy included a plan to poison Lula and shoot Alexandre de Moraes – the same judge of the Supreme Court now responsible for deciding whether the case should be tried.

The prosecutor’s accusations are based on a police investigation into events conducting January 8, 2023, when supporters of Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in the capital, Brasilia.

Buildings were ransacked and the police arrested 1,500 people.

Bolsonaro was in the United States at the time and still denied links with rioters. But the prosecutor’s report alleges that he began to sow doubts on the Brazil voting system in July 2021, which would have encouraged those who storm the congress.

Lawyers representing the former president declared that they had been “amazed” by the accusations against their client and insisted that he had never supported any movement aimed at dismantling the state of Democratic law of Brazil or the institutions that support him.

The said prosecutor had found a “fanciful story” which would not resist a legal examination.