Brazil prosecutor charges Bolsonaro over failed coup plot

Brazil’s attorney general on Tuesday 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 organization,” 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 more than 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.

After the announcement of his indictment, Bolsonaro’s defense team said they were “shocked” and “indignant,” adding in a statement that Jair Bolsonaro has “never” been linked to a “movement that aimed to deconstruct the Democratic Rule of Law.”

‘The final attempt’

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 mobilized 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 the capital Brasilia.

The attorney general’s office said the criminal organization headed by Bolsonaro had pressured army chiefs “in favor 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.”

The Supreme Court will now weigh the charges and decide whether to initiate proceedings against Bolsonaro.

Hours before the charges were filed, Bolsonaro told journalists in Brasilia that he had “no concern” about the possibility of being indicted.

He was speaking at the Senate, where he has been pushing for an amnesty for his supporters who were imprisoned after the Brasilia riots.

The Supreme Court has convicted almost 400 people over the invasion of the seats of power.

Seeking the presidency again

Bolsonaro, who was in the United States on the day of the riots, dismissed the accusation against him in a recent interview with CNN Brasil.

“What coup is this? That they accuse me of? Of being there in Orlando, at Disney, with Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck, planning a coup here in Brazil?”

Asked what would happen if he were arrested, Bolsonaro said: “I’m going to jail, I’m not leaving Brazil. I’m not going to flee Brazil.”

The president of Brazil’s top court, Luis Roberto Barroso, said on Monday that Bolsonaro would be judged without “a politicized vision.”

Bolsonaro has been barred from holding public office until 2030 for casting doubts on Brazil’s voting system during his failed reelection campaign.

However, despite being bogged down in legal woes, he is trying to challenge the length of his political ban in a bid to run for office again in 2026 elections.

“Are we going to hold elections without opposition here in Brazil? Because without me on the right, nowadays, there is no opposition,” he told CNN Brasil. 

Trump media company sues Brazilian Supreme Court justice investigating Bolsonaro

US President Donald Trump‘s media company sued a Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Wednesday, accusing him of violating US free speech protections when he imposed a ban on a right-wing supporter of  Bolsonaro.

The lawsuit in Tampa federal court was filed just hours after Bolsonaro was charged in Brazil and was brought by Sarasota, Florida-based Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social media platform preferred by the president to communicate with his followers.

It was joined as a plaintiff by Rumble, a video-sharing platform that partners with Truth Social and fashions itself a safe harbor for free expression.

In their 39-page complaint, the plaintiffs allege that Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes overstepped his legal authority and international law by seeking to shut down the US-based accounts of a right-wing Brazilian commentator who is seeking asylum in the US.

The blogger is identified in the complaint only as “Political Dissident A.”

“Justice Moraes cannot dictate the contours of lawful discourse within the United States,” plaintiffs’ attorneys from New York-based Boies Schiller said in the complaint.

“The United States has long upheld free speech as a cornerstone of its constitutional framework, enshrined in the First Amendment, and has consistently opposed censorship.”

According to the complaint, Rumble said it faced a fine of $9,000 a day and a shutdown of its service in Brazil if it doesn’t abide by Moraes’ order.

The Trump media organization, although not the apparent target of Moraes’ gag order, said Truth Social’s operations would be impacted should Rumble be taken offline.

Moraes has emerged as Brazil’s chief legal powerbroker and would-be defender of the country’s democracy following the far- right Bolsonaro’s shock election in 2018.

Moraes has emerged as Brazil’s chief legal powerbroker and would-be defender of the country’s democracy following the far- right Bolsonaro’s shock election in 2018.

What started as a judicial examination of fake news and threats to the high court has since evolved into a sprawling investigation into Bolsonaro himself on allegations of corruption and attempts to destabilize the country by testing the boundaries of free expression.

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Bolsonaro used his sizable social media presence to raise unfounded doubts about Brazil’s electronic voting system.

Unlike the US, where the First Amendment is an almost sacred text taught in every elementary school, Brazil’s Constitution, drafted in the aftermath of the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, is more unwieldy and offers fewer protections for freedom of speech.

Under Moraes’ orders, police in 2020 raided the homes and froze the social media accounts of several far-right supporters and YouTube supporters of Bolsonaro.

Lawmakers loyal to the former army captain have pushed for Moraes’ impeachment and even some critics of Bolsonaro have questioned the justice’s aggressive tactics.