Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court begun ruling on Tuesday (Mar. 25) on whether former president Jair Bolsonaro and seven others accused of attempting a coup d’état will face criminal charges.
The Supreme Court will decide whether to accept the complaint filed in February by Attorney General Paulo Gonet against the so-called “Crucial Nucleus” or “Nucleus 1,” consisting of eight of the 34 individuals indicted in the case. The members of the nucleus are:
• Jair Bolsonaro, former President of Brazil
• Walter Braga Netto, Army general, former minister, and Bolsonaro’s vice-presidential running mate in the 2022 elections
• General Augusto Heleno, former Minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet
• Alexandre Ramagem, former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin)
• Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice and former Secretary of Security for the Federal District
• Almir Garnier, former commander of the Navy
• Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, Army general and former Minister of Defense
• Mauro Cid, whistleblower and former aide-de-camp to Bolsonaro
The panel has scheduled a session for Wednesday morning (26) to conclude the case analysis, following the procedures outlined in the Supreme Court’s regulations.
Criminal organization
The Attorney General’s complaint alleges that Bolsonaro “led” a criminal organization to carry out acts against the democratic order. According to the Attorney General’s Office, the group, composed of military personnel and other individuals within the state structure, operated between July 2021 and January 2023.
“The criminal organization took all necessary steps to overthrow the legitimately elected government,” the complaint states.
The indictment mentions that Bolsonaro was aware of the plan called “Yellow Green Dagger,” which outlined the strategies and execution of actions aimed at assassinating President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
The Prosecutor’s Office also asserts that the former president was aware of the draft decree intended to carry out a coup d’état in the country. The document came to be known during the investigation as the “coup draft.”
Defense denies Bolsonaro knew of coup plot
Lawyer Celso Vilardi, Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s counsel, said Tuesday (Mar. 25) that his client had no knowledge of, or connection with, any coup plot. Vilardi protested that he was not given access to the full evidence on which the country’s prosecutor-general based his charges.
The attorney began his argument by stating that Bolsonaro was “the most investigated ex-president in the history of this country.” Even so, he added, the charges filed by Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet fail to provide any evidence of Bolsonaro’s connection to the coup plot or to the attacks of January 8, 2023, when government headquarters were raided and destroyed by Bolsonaro supporters.
“The [former] president,” he said, “has nothing to do with the Green and Yellow Dagger [plan]”, referring to the scheme which, according to the Federal Police, envisaged the seizure of power and the assassination of then President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other authorities—like Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes—after the 2022 election.
He also mentioned that Bolsonaro authorized the start of the government transition, in addition to an early change in command of the Armed Forces, in December 2022, after losing the election that year. “One cannot say that this is compatible with an attempted coup,” the lawyer argued.
“I fear the seriousness of all the events that took place on January 8, but one cannot seek to attribute any liability to the former president, or label him the leader of a criminal organization, if he offered no support for what happened on January 8—on the contrary, he mocked it,” Vilardi declared. He referred to messages published that day, in which Bolsonaro condemned the attacks.
In Vilardi’s view, the charges amount to “conjectures” that fail to present any specific action by Bolsonaro aimed at staging a coup.
Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro himself watched Vilardi’s argument directly from the First Panel’s courtroom. The former president left the premises on Tuesday morning stating he would not speak until the trial was over.
Source: Agência Brasil