At least three military personnel and a businessman mentioned during the investigations into attacks on the electoral system and attempted coup d’état were left out of the list of indictments for coup plots.
After the conclusion of the investigation last Thursday (21), they were. The case was submitted for analysis by the minister, of the (Supreme Federal Court), who should forward it to the (Attorney General’s Office).
Lieutenant Colonel Rodrigo Bezerra Azevedo, arrested on Tuesday (19) at; the general, former minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency and one of the precursors of the attack on the polls during the Bolsonaro government; Colonel Jean Lawand Júnior, who asked the former aide-de-camp for Bolsonaro to stage a coup; and businessman Eder Balbino, hired to try to question the reliability of electronic voting machines.
When contacted, they did not respond to the report.
Lieutenant Colonel Rodrigo Bezerra Azevedo was suspected of being part of a group that planned to kill the president (), his vice () and Moraes.
According to the PF, Bezerra would be one of the members of the “Copa 2022” group, made up of military “black kids” on the Signal messaging app, which would orchestrate the kidnapping and death of the STF minister.
Investigators identified that, on December 15, 2022, Bezerra’s cell phone would be linked to the code name Brasil, which was also part of the group that monitored Moraes.
The latest PF report on the coup plot points out that Bezerra would be close to another arrested soldier, Rafael Martins de Oliveira, suspected of using the “Copa 2022” group, created to monitor the magistrate, in communications.
The investigation that led to the indictment of 37 people divided the suspects into six groups: disinformation and attacks on the electoral system; incitement of military personnel to join the coup; legal; operational support for coup actions; parallel intelligence; and compliance with coercive measures.
General Luiz Eduardo Ramos, Bolsonaro’s former minister, participated in the offensive to question the vulnerability of the ballot boxes under the Bolsonaro administration, but ended up being left off the list of indictees.
According to a PF investigation, opened after the July 2021 live broadcast in which Bolsonaro did the , responsible for producing material about possible fraud in the 2014 elections.
Abrieli confirmed in a statement to the PF that he was approached in 2019 by Ramos for a meeting with Bolsonaro in Planalto to discuss fraud in electronic voting machines.
General Ramos was also the boss of Mário Fernandes, arrested in the PF’s Countercoup operation, on suspicion of having and printing the document at the Palácio do Planalto.
Also left out of the list of indictments, Army Colonel Jean Lawand Júnior even asked Mauro Cid for Bolsonaro to launch a coup to prevent Lula from taking office. The exchange of .
“Citizen, for God’s sake, man. He [Bolsonaro] give the order that the people are with him, man. If the guys don’t comply, that’s their problem. The Brazilian Army will end if these guys don’t comply with the Supreme Commander’s order. How am I going to accept an order from a General, who did not receive it, who did not accept the Commander’s order. For the love of God, Citizen. For the love of God, do something, man. Convince him to do it,” Lawand said in one of the audios, according to a PF transcript.
Lawand was interviewed by the CPI on January 8th on June 27th, when he denied having masterminded a coup in exchange for messages with Cid. According to him, the intention of the messages was to understand what was happening in the country.
Businessman Eder Balbin, who works in the information technology sector in Uberlândia (MG), was called the “genius of Uberlândia” by the president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, under the allegation of having helped the party discover supposed vulnerabilities in the system of voting.
Eder was hired by Instituto Voto Legal after the repercussions of his work questioning the reliability of the ballot boxes. The president of the institute, Carlos Rocha, is on the list of those indicted by the PF.
The Minas Gerais businessman was the target of a search and seizure by the PF in February this year, when operation Tempus Veritatis was launched, which targeted those involved in the coup plot.
