Bolsonaro charged with coup plotting
Feb. 19, 2025
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was charged with leading a conspiracy to overthrow the Brazilian government following his 2022 electoral loss. The accusations, laid out in a 272-page indictment by Attorney General Paulo Gonet Branco, accuse Bolsonaro and 33 other people, including a former spy chief, defense minister and national security adviser, of a series of crimes against Brazil’s democracy.
The charges essentially adopt the recommendations made in a federal police investigation presented in November, reports the New York Times. (See Nov. 22’s post.)
The plot included declaring a state of siege to prevent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from assuming office, and a plan to assassinate Lula and Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes. The plot failed not for a lack of desire, authorities said, but because key members of the armed forces weren’t willing to join in the conspiracy. (Washington Post)
Historian Carlos Fico, one of the leading experts on the dictatorship that seized power after Brazil’s 1964 military coup, told the Guardian that it was particularly noteworthy that those charged included three high-ranking military figures: Gen Braga Netto, Gen Heleno and Adm Garnier Santos.
Bolsonaro said the charges are politically motivated, comparing himself to U.S. President Donald Trump. The accusations are “nothing more than a desperate attempt to criminalize my political movement, silence millions of Brazilians and rig the next election before a single vote is cast,” Bolsonaro said, adding that he had handed over power peacefully. “This is the same failed strategy that was used against President Trump.”
Brazil’s Supreme Court must now decide whether to order Bolsonaro’s arrest and have him face trial. If convicted, he could face 12 to 40 years in prison, according to the indictment, though the actual sentence would likely be shorter.
Hours after the charges were filed before the Supreme Court, the U.S. president’s Trump Media & Technology Group and video-sharing platform Rumble de Moraes over accusations of illegal censorship. (Reuters) The lawsuit filed in a Tampa federal court accuses the Brazilian Supreme Court judge of violating the free speech rights of U.S.-based conservative commentators. (Axios)
“The lawsuit appeared to represent an astonishing effort by Mr. Trump to pressure a foreign judge as he weighed the fate of a fellow right-wing leader who, like him, was indicted on charges that he tried to overturn his election loss,” according to the New York Times.
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