A panel of justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged attempt to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat, and they ordered the former leader to stand trial.
All five justices ruled in favor of accepting the charges leveled by Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who accused Bolsonaro and 33 others of attempting a coup that included a plan to poison his successor, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and kill a Supreme Court judge.
The justices said seven close allies should also stand trial on five counts: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage characterized by violence and a serious threat to the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage.
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The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and says he’s being politically persecuted. A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under Brazilian law, a coup conviction carries a sentence of up to 12 years. When combined with the other charges, it could result in a sentence of decades behind bars.
"Coups kill," Justice Flávio Dino said when casting his vote. "It doesn’t matter if it happens today, the following month or a few years later."
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet on Tuesday said those facing the charges sought to keep Bolsonaro in power "at all costs," in a multistep scheme that accelerated after the far-right politician lost to the current president.
As in his February indictment, Gonet said part of the plot included a plan to kill Lula and Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who were put under surveillance by the alleged conspirators.
The plan did not go ahead because at the last minute the accused failed to get the army's commander on board, Gonet said.
"Frustration overwhelmed the members of the criminal organization who, however, did not give up on the violent seizure of power, not even after the elected president of the republic was sworn in," Gonet said.
That was a reference to the Jan. 8, 2023, riot when Bolsonaro’s die-hard supporters stormed and trashed the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress in Brasilia a week after Lula took office.
De Moraes on Wednesday showed the panel a video clip with scenes from that day. "We had a very violent coup attempt," he said. "A savage violence, in total incivility, with the request for military intervention in the coup d’état."
Bolsonaro's running mate during the 2022 election and former Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, ex-Justice Minister Anderson Torres and his aide-de-camp Mauro Cid, among others, will also stand trial. The court will decide on the fate of the others later.
Bolsonaro, a former military officer who was known to express nostalgia for the country’s 1964-1985 dictatorship, openly defied Brazil’s judicial system during his 2019-2022 term in office.
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