BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazil’s attorney general formally charged far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others over an alleged coup attempt after his 2022 election loss.
Bolsonaro, 69, and his co-accused were hit with five charges over the alleged bid to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after a bitter election race.
Attorney General Paulo Gonet Branco filed the charges at the Supreme Court “based on manuscripts, digital files, spreadsheets and exchanges of messages that reveal the scheme to disrupt the democratic order,” his office said in a statement.
“They describe, in detail, the conspiratorial plot set up and executed against democratic institutions.”
One of the charges is for the crime of “armed criminal organisation,” allegedly led by Bolsonaro and his vice-presidential candidate Walter Braga Netto. “Allied with other individuals, including civilians and military personnel, they attempted to prevent, in a coordinated manner, the result of the 2022 presidential elections from being fulfilled,” read the statement. The prosecutor’s office based its decision on a federal police report of over 800 pages, released last year after a two-year investigation which found Bolsonaro was “fully aware and actively participated” in the plot to cling to power.
Bolsonaro has denied the accusations and said he was the victim of “persecution”.
“The attempted coup d’etat… has become an empty accusation, which has absolutely no evidence against Bolsonaro,” his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, wrote on X.
According to the statement from Branco’s office, the plot began in 2021, with “systematic attacks on the electronic voting system, through public statements and on the internet.”
During the second round of the presidential election in October 2022, security agencies were mobilised to “prevent voters from voting for the opposition candidate”, said the statement.
Those involved at this stage worked to facilitate “the acts of violence and vandalism on January 8, 2023,” when Bolsonaro supporters stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in Brasilia.
The attorney general’s office said the criminal organisation headed by Bolsonaro had pressured army chiefs “in favour of forceful actions in the political scene to prevent the elected president from taking office”.
Investigations also showed a plot to assassinate Lula, vice-president Geraldo Alckmin and a high-profile judge with “the approval of” Bolsonaro. According to the statement, the January 8 riots by Bolsonaro supporters urging the military to intervene were “the final attempt”.
PHOTO: AFP
