Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was charged on Tuesday with overseeing a plot that overturned his 2022 election losses through a coup, further complicating the already narrow hopes of the far-right Fire card.
Adriano Machado | Reuters
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was charged on Tuesday with overseeing a plot that overturned his 2022 election losses through a coup, further complicating the already narrow hopes of the far-right Fire card.
Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet accused Bolsonaro and his campaign partner General Walter Braga Netto of leading a “crime organization” aimed at overthrowing Brazil A 40-year-old democratic country.
The plot has been charged in total with 34 people, including several military officials, such as Bolsenro’s former national security adviser, retired General Augusto Heleno and former naval commander Almir Almir Garnier Santos.
It added: “The responsibility for acts that are harmful to the democratic order belongs to a criminal organization led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro, based on an authoritarian power project.”
Analysts believe that unless Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case, believes Bolsonaro is unlikely to be arrested before trial, it will be considered a flight risk.
The case echoes criminal charges faced by U.S. President Donald Trump, which accused him of trying to overturn his re-election losses in 2020. The case was repeatedly delayed and eventually revoked after Trump returned to power in the United States election last November.
Brazilian federal police ruled a two-year investigation into his role in the electoral crime movement, and the allegations against Bolsenro were only months long, amid his supporters swept the capital Brasilia in early 2023 Supporters, swept the riots a week after President Louis Louis. Inacio Lula Da Silva took office.
At the time, many protesters admitted that they wanted to create chaos to justify their opinion of the imminent military coup. Late last year, police arrested five conspirators suspected of planning to assassinate leftist Lula before taking office.
Prosecutors said the plot, led by Bolson Rowe, included the plan to poison Lula, a union leader who once served as president.
Lula barely beat the right-wing standardist in the late 2022 election.
Controlled plot
The alleged documents state: “They seek full control over the three branches of the government; they outline a central office that aims to organize the new orders they intend to establish.”
Former army captain Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied violating any law and called on his political opponents to hunt his witch.
The lawyer representing Bolsonaro said in a statement Tuesday that he never supported any movement aimed at demolishing Brazil’s democratic rule of law or maintaining institutions it holds.
Meanwhile, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president, teased the allegations in a post on X on Tuesday night as “the idea of participating in Alexandre de Moraes and Lula’s evil interests.”
Tuesday’s indictment marks the first time Bolson Roe has been charged with a crime, although his actions as president have faced some legal challenges since he lost his reelection.
Two previous decisions by the Brazilian federal election court have prevented him from running for president until 2030.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers have two weeks to respond to the charges of whether the Supreme Court accepts the charges and has the potential to conduct a dramatic TV trial.
If convicted, Bolsonaro faces at least a decade of imprisonment.
Dim hope for a comeback
“The Supreme Court has a 99% chance of accepting the charges,” said Vera Chemim, a constitutional lawyer in St. Paul. “But to convict Bolsenro, the Supreme Court will need strong evidence.”
General Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s former campaign partner, was arrested two months ago and police accused him of interfering in the investigation. In a statement late Tuesday, his lawyers called the allegations “fantasy” that it would not remove his “accessibility” in the Brazilian army for four decades.
A lawyer for former Navy chief Garnier Santos said he would comment once he had sufficient review of the charges, and Bolsonro’s national security adviser General Heleno did not immediately respond Review request.
The Supreme Court conviction may mark a hurdle for Bolsonaro to hope to run for the 2026 presidential election, which could be a potential contest against Lula.
Bolsonaro himself is a 2010 law of law by law firms of Congress, which was convicted by the Court of Appeal to be elected to office.
Two sources close to Bolsonaro said the former president had little hope for the court to rule in his favor. Instead, his allies want to mobilize political support to increase pressure on courts and legislators to clear the path to come back.
Hours before prosecutors filed charges against him, Bolsonrow met with opposition senators a bill that would reduce the time for politicians to commit violations.
According to recent polls, while its prevalence is unclear, some conservatives are inspired by Lula’s unpopularity.
A February survey released by DataFolha showed that only 24% of Brazilians favored the Lula government, the lowest ever rating of his presidency in three terms.
