The Federal Police (PF) claims to have evidence that points to Jair Bolsonaro (PL) as the leader of a criminal organization that attempted to carry out a coup d’état after the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The 884-page report that accuses the former president and 36 other people is still confidential, but some information was passed on to Gazeta do Povo by investigators with knowledge of the case. Bolsonaro denies the accusations and says he is a victim of persecution.
The plot created by the PF was based on evidence that had been collected over the last year and a half of investigations into January 8, such as the alleged “coup draft” found in the home of former minister Anderson Torres, but focused especially on conversations and documents recently recovered from electronic devices belonging to Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp, Mauro Cid. Israeli software was used to restore the deleted files, as they had not been indicated by Cid when he reached a plea bargain in 2023.
This material, according to the PF, suggests that meetings were held, at the Palácio do Planalto and at the official residence of the Presidency, to discuss actions to reverse the 2022 electoral process. Testimonies from Army commanders were also listed as evidence that these meetings would have occurred.
The investigators also include in the plot the fact that the Liberal Party filed a lawsuit with the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), shortly after the 2022 elections, to try to invalidate votes from several ballot boxes used in that year’s election. For the PF, the government structure and the PL were used to finance supposed narratives of electoral fraud. Valdemar Costa Neto, president of the party, and Carlos Rocha, author of a report released at the time that spoke about alleged failures in electronic voting machines, were also indicted by the PF this Thursday (21).
According to sources consulted by the report, this week’s indictments are unrelated to and did not consider other investigations, such as the so-called Abin Paralela, the Saudi jewelry case and the Covid-19 vaccine. However, some names already mentioned in these other investigations reappeared in the investigation into the alleged coup.
This is the case of federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ), investigated in the alleged “Abin Paralela” investigation. He was included in the PF indictment this Thursday on suspicion of having used the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), of which he was director during the Bolsonaro government, to monitor authorities and support acts that would culminate in an alleged coup d’état. . Ramagem’s defense said he does not intend to speak out for now.
According to the investigation, there were “structuring centers” to support the alleged coup:
- Center for Disinformation and Attacks on the Electoral System;
- Unit Responsible for Inciting Military Personnel to Join the Coup d’Etat;
- Legal Center;
- Operational Center to Support Coup Actions;
- Parallel Intelligence Center;
- Operational Center for Compliance with Coercive Measures
The Federal Police indicate that Bolsonaro participated in all these groups.
Minister Alexandre de Moraes, despite being cited as one of the possible victims of the group that would be trying to take power in 2022, is the rapporteur of this investigation at the STF.
After the indictment became public via a PF note, Bolsonaro accused Moraes of carrying out “evidence fishing” against him and said that the minister “conducts the entire investigation, adjusts statements, arrests without charges and has very creative advice”. “He does everything that the law doesn’t say,” he told the Metrópoles portal on Thursday.
The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has 15 days to express whether it accepts the complaints, requests new investigations or requests the case be closed. See below the evidence that the Federal Police presented to the STF against former president Jair Bolsonaro.
Plan was printed at Palácio do Planalto
According to PF sources, information recovered from Mauro Cid’s cell phones in conversations with other interlocutors indicated that there was a plan to carry out an alleged coup d’état, planning the death of the then elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT ), the vice, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and the STF minister, Alexandre de Moraes.
Analysis and data crossing show, according to the PF, that this plan would have been printed at Palácio do Planalto at a time when Bolsonaro would be there. The investigators reached this conclusion when investigating the location of the cell phones of some of the accused through signals emitted by telephone towers and data recorded on a printer at Palácio do Planalto.
They also claim, based on statements from Armed Forces officers and cell phone location data, that there would have been a meeting on December 7, 2022, at Palácio do Alvorada, the president’s official residence, and that on that occasion it would also have been discussed a draft State of Defense or Siege decree and begin a Law and Order Guarantee (GLO) operation.
The meetings were attended by officers from the Armed Forces, government ministers and advisors – although the police have not yet released the list of names that would be present, in addition to the former president.
The PF would also have identified in the investigations that Bolsonaro participated and reviewed this document, called the “coup draft”. At the Palácio da Alvorada meeting, Bolsonaro reportedly presented a version that included the creation of a commission to investigate the electoral process.
The supposed draft also included the call for new elections. Cross-referencing this information with conversations recovered from Mauro Cid’s cell phone with other defendants, the PF identified the appointment of a provisional crisis cabinet that Bolsonaro would be aware of.
Bolsonaro denies that he had knowledge and any participation in structuring the supposed draft and that he was never aware of its existence. The document, found in the home of former Justice Minister Anderson Torres, was not signed.
In an order that authorized the Countercoup operation last Tuesday (19), Alexandre de Moraes cited Bolsonaro at least 30 times and described in the decision that conversations recovered by the PF indicated that military personnel who participated in the alleged scheme exchanged information among themselves saying that Bolsonaro had authorized to do whatever was necessary to put the act into practice until December 31, 2022.
Meeting at Braga Netto’s house
The investigation also pointed out that the former Minister of Defense, Braga Netto, who was a candidate for Bolsonaro’s vice-president in the 2022 elections, would have an active participation in this structuring, including holding a meeting to discuss the issue at his home.
In a new statement to Alexandre de Moraes this week, Mauro Cid would have stated, according to sources who followed the statement, that the meeting actually took place at Braga Netto’s house. Cid said, however, that he did not stay during the entire meeting and that he was not aware of the plans for violent actions, which planned the death of Lula, Alckmin and Moraes.
According to the PF, this meeting would have taken place on November 12, 2022. At this meeting, the plan was discussed in detail and monitoring by Minister Alexandre de Moraes would have started immediately after that date. The investigation reinforces the connection between the events and the high level of government at the time. For the PF, Bolsonaro knew about the plan.
The complaint against Bolsonaro also considers that he had access to an alleged coup text at the end of 2022 through Filipe Martins, special advisor to the Presidency and who would participate in a Legal Center in the scheme. The PF says that Bolsonaro even requested adjustments to the content.
Martins is also among those indicted this week. His defense said his indictment was “laughable and legally unsustainable”, “fabricated entirely based on conclusions and fanciful narratives — never on concrete facts and evidence”.
Series of meetings in November and December 2022 and Bolsonaro’s participation
Messages exchanged between the former president’s allies, in November and December 2022, would show, according to the PF, negotiations on documents with alleged coup d’état content. In the report, the PF would indicate that Bolsonaro knew and participated in the entire process.
The PF also indicated that General Mário Fernandes, who was also indicted, was responsible for devising the plan that would culminate in the murder of authorities, as he was one of the former interim ministers of the General Secretariat of the Presidency during the Bolsonaro government. In an audio recovered by the PF and attributed to the general, Fernandes reportedly said that Bolsonaro had given approval for an alleged coup plan.
Furthermore, messages recovered from Mauro Cid’s cell phone reveal exchanges of information between him and Colonel Marcelo Câmara, another close advisor to Bolsonaro, also indicted this Thursday.
In the conversations, recorded in December 2022, Cid sought information about the movements of minister Alexandre de Moraes, suggesting continuous monitoring of the magistrate by the investigated group. Chamber has not yet commented. According to the PF, the planning for the authorities’ deaths was being planned through poisoning or armed clashes, involving large-caliber weapons.
The document that detailed the plan, entitled ‘Punhal Verde e Amarelo’, would have been printed at the Palácio do Planalto facilities and, once again, General Mario Fernandes, would have been responsible for producing six copies of the material. Evidence suggests that these copies were made to be distributed at a strategic meeting attended by Bolsonaro.
The PF reinforces that records of entry into the Palácio da Alvorada on December 17, the day after the documents were printed, show that General Mario Fernandes was at the official residence of the Presidency.
Investigation says that Bolsonaro held a “coup” meeting in July 2022
Another point that would have contributed to Bolsonaro’s indictment, according to the PF, was a meeting with alleged coup content in July 2022 at Palácio do Planalto, involving high-ranking members of the government. During the meeting, which was recorded, Bolsonaro would have encouraged actions before the electoral dispute in October of that year, with a speech that would signal, in the understanding of investigators, support for an alleged coup.
On the same occasion, General Augusto Heleno, then head of the Institutional Security Office (GSI), reinforced the need to “turn the tables” before the results of the polls. He would have argued that acting quickly was essential to avoid election fallout. Heleno was also indicted this week and his defense has not yet spoken out.
The indictment of Valdemar Costa Neto, president of PL, Bolsonaro’s party, would be based on the party’s alleged financing of a structure aimed at promoting allegations of alleged fraud in electronic voting machines. Sources linked to the investigation point to pressure from Bolsonaro and his group for this to happen through the party. This strategy sought to legitimize demonstrations that took place in front of military installations, in camps, in which supporters of the former president demonstrated.
The most striking point of this fact would have occurred, according to the PF, on November 22, 2022, when the coalition formed by PL, Republicans and Progressives filed a lawsuit with the TSE. The objective was to try to invalidate votes from several ballot boxes used in that year’s election.
Furthermore, the PF describes that Bolsonaro’s former campaign committee, rented by the PL, continued to be used in the post-election period by allies of the former president who defended the “possibility of military intervention”. Valdemar did not comment on the indictment. Senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), who is leader of the opposition in the Senate, said that the indictments are political persecution.
