In Brazil, the federal police recommended, on Thursday, November 21, prosecuting former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro for an alleged coup attempt to prevent the return to power of his successor, Lula, after the 2022 elections. and 36 other people are the subject of a request for indictment for “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état and criminal organization” as part of this investigation, the police detailed in a press release.
“This Thursday, the federal police concluded the investigation into the existence of a criminal organization that acted in a coordinated manner in 2022, in the attempt to keep the then president in power.”details this press release. The investigations lasted “almost two years”. The report must be submitted by the Supreme Court to the Attorney General’s Office, which must decide based on it whether or not to initiate a process against the former head of state (2019-2023).
Jair Bolsonaro, 69, attacked Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, head of the investigation. He “carries out the entire investigation, organizes the testimonies, detains without charges”accused Bolsonaro in X. “It does everything that the law does not say”he added, promising to continue “the fight” at the judicial level. Bolsonaro is the subject of several other investigations, but it is this case that could have the greatest political impact. He maintains his innocence and claims to be a victim of “persecution”.
“Operation Green and Yellow Dagger”
The former army captain cannot be elected until 2030 for attacking, without evidence, the electronic ballot system used during elections in Brazil. But he hopes to be able to annul this conviction to compete in the 2026 presidential elections. On February 8, he was prohibited from leaving Brazilian territory within the framework of a large police operation called. “Tempus veritatis” (“The hour of truth,” in Latin), who that day had attacked several of his former close collaborators, with dozens of searches and arrests.
The list of thirty-seven people whose indictment investigators have recommended also includes former ministers of Bolsonaro’s government, including Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, who was also his candidate for vice presidency in 2022. General Augusto Heleno, former Minister of Institutional Security. cabinet, considered the former president’s eminence grise, and Alexandre Ramagem, who was head of the intelligence services under his mandate, were also attacked.
On Tuesday, another police operation linked to this investigation ended with the arrest of four soldiers and a police officer suspected of having promoted a plan to assassinate the leftist champion Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after his victory in the 2022 presidential elections. The suspect arrested He is reserve general Mario Fernandes, a close collaborator of Jair Bolsonaro during his mandate. Federal police on Thursday also called for his prosecution, as well as that of three other people arrested two days earlier. His plan, titled “Operation Green and Yellow Dagger” (colors of the Brazilian flag), he also planned to kill the elected vice president Geraldo Alckmin and Judge Moraes.
At the time of the operation “Tempus veritatis”Researchers had reported on a draft decree aimed at calling new elections and arresting Judge Moraes, who presided over the Superior Electoral Court during the 2022 presidential elections. This decree would have been presented by Bolsonaro to high-ranking military officers during meetings in December. 2022, between his electoral defeat in the second round on October 30, 2022 and Lula’s inauguration on October 1Ahem January 2023.
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The decree ultimately did not see the light of day, but Brazilian institutions were shaken on January 8, 2023: a week after Lula’s inauguration, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters ransacked places of power in Brasilia. Bolsonaro, who was in the United States that day, is also the subject of an investigation aimed at determining whether he played the role of instigator of these riots.
