Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was indicted over his alleged coup attempt, authorities said Thursday.
Bolsonaro, who was in office from 2019 to 2022, has been accused of trying to stay in office after his narrow electoral defeat in 2022 to now-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He has denied such claims.
Brazil’s federal police said their indictment of Bolsonaro will be brought to Brazil’s Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will then decide whether to refer the police’s findings to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who will either formally charge Bolsonaro and put him on trial or throw out the investigation.
Others Indicted in Coup Attempt
Bolsonaro was one of 37 people indicted for the alleged coup attempt. The Supreme Court agreed to reveal the names of the 37 indicted people “to avoid the dissemination of incorrect news,” police said.
Dozens of former and current Bolsonaro aides were indicted, including General Walter Braga Netto, who was Bolsonaro’s running mate in 2022, and Valdemar Costa Neto, the chairman of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
Former Army commander General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira and Bolsonaro’s veteran former adviser General Augusto Heleno were also indicted.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, four military men and one federal police agent were arrested as part of the same investigation into the alleged coup plot.
The five officers allegedly planned to kill then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his running mate Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
January 8, 2022, Riot
The facts of Bolsonaro’s case remain unclear as the indictment is sealed, but authorities had been investigating whether the former president incited a riot in which his supporters ransacked the Supreme Court, the presidential palace and Congress in the capital of Brasilia on January 8, 2022.
Other Probes Into Jair Bolsonaro
Brazil’s highest electoral court ruled in a separate case in June that Bolsonaro used government communication channels in a meeting with foreign ambassadors to tell them that the country’s electronic voting system was rigged.
Bolsonaro was barred from running for office again until 2030, but he has insisted that he will run in the 2026 election.
The former president appealed the court’s ruling, but it was denied.
Other investigations include probes into Bolosnaro’s potential roles in smuggling diamond jewelry into Brazil from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain without properly declaring them and in directing an official to falsify his and his daughter’s COVID-19 vaccination statuses. Bolsonaro has denied any involvement in either case.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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