The Federal Police pointed out that the then commander of the Navy, Admiral Almir Garnier, was the only one among the heads of the Armed Forces who would have made himself available to former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) for the alleged coup d’état. The information is part of the investigation report that resulted in the indictment of Bolsonaro, Garnier and 35 other people.
“The aforementioned messages are in line with the evidence obtained, confirming that the then Commander of the Navy, Admiral Almir Garnier, agreed with the Coup d’Etat, placing his troops at the disposal of the President”, says the document that had its secrecy reiterated by Federal Supreme Court (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes this Tuesday (26).
The admiral’s defense reinforces that he is innocent. The PF had access to an exchange of messages on the cell phone of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, then Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp, with a contact identified as “Riva”.
The report contains a print of the conversation in which “Riva” says that Garnier is a “patriot” and had tanks ready, signaling that the admiral could help carry out the coup. “Alt. Garnier is a PATRIOT. They had tanks at the Arsenal ready,” said Riva.
In response, the interlocutor says that “01”, referring to Bolsonaro, should have “broken” with the Navy, that the Army and Air Force “would go after”. The PF stated that the commanders of the Army, General Freire Gomes, and of the Air Force, Lieutenant Brigadier, Baptista Júnior, were against the institutional rupture.
“The evidence obtained, such as text messages and statements from the then Commanders of the Air Force and the Army provided to the Federal Police, show that the then Commander of the Brazilian Navy, Admiral Almir Garnier, was the only one among the three to adhere to the plan that aimed to abolish the Democratic Rule of Law”, says the report.
In a statement, the defense reiterated Garnier’s innocence. According to the investigation, with the support of the admiral, those under investigation would have pressured the commanders of the Army and Air Force.
“Furthermore, Amir Garnier’s adherence, according to the exchanges of messages between those investigated and supporters of the coup d’état, described throughout the report, served for the Criminal Organization to further pressure the Army High Command to adhere to the plan that aimed to abolish the Democratic State of Law”, stated the PF.
Commanders opposed to the coup were targets of “digital militia”, points out PF
The Federal Police stated that Freire Gomes and Baptista Júnior were targets of “personal attacks” on social media by a “digital militia” after rejecting the coup d’état plan.
According to the report, those “investigated continued to invest in personal attacks against commanders Freire Gomes and Baptista Júnior, using the ‘tools’ of the digital militia, disseminating false information in high volume, through multichannels, in a continuous and repetitive manner”.
The objective of the publications would be to convey the image to the military and to the former president’s supporters that the commanders were “traitors to the country” and aligned with “communism”.
“In this context, Braga Netto ordered Ailton Gonçalves Barros to direct personal attacks (including family members) against the then Army commander, General Freire Gomes and the then Air Force commander, Lieutenant-Brigadier Baptista Júnior, and on the other hand, praise the then commander of the Navy, squadron admiral Almir Garnier Santos”, says the report.
According to the PF, Braga Netto also guided the “dissemination of news, with the aim of
achieve the reputation” of General Tomás Paiva, current commander of the Army, who “also adopted an institutional position, opposing any illicit action by the Armed Forces”.
Garnier was responsible for the armored parade to the Planalto
Garnier was appointed by Bolsonaro to command the Navy in April 2021. On August 10 of that year, the Navy held a parade of armored vehicles and other military vehicles to the Palácio do Planalto to invite the then president to exercise Operation Formosa.
The parade took place on the same day that the Chamber of Deputies would vote on the PEC of the printed vote. The proposal was rejected by 229 votes in favor, 218 against and one abstention.
On the occasion, Bolsonaro received the invitation from a Navy officer on the Planalto ramp accompanied by the then Minister of Defense, Walter Braga Netto, and the three commanders of the Armed Forces, as well as other ministers and authorities.
Defense of Almir Garnier
The defense reiterated the admiral’s “innocence” after being indicted by the PF, on the 21st, and said that he hopes to have access to the entire case file to speak out. “Regarding the indictment of Admiral Almir Garnier, the defense reiterates the innocence of the person being investigated, clarifying that he has not yet had full access to the files”, said the note from lawyer Demóstenes Torres, who represents Garnier. The space remains open for a new demonstration of Admiral Almir Garnier’s defense.
Bolsonaro denied alleged coup plot
The former president denied having participated in the alleged coup plot, for which he was indicted by the Federal Police, but admitted that he studied “all possible measures within the four lines” of the Constitution, such as the state of siege.
The word coup was never in my dictionary… I would never do anything outside the four lines of the Constitution. It is possible to solve Brazil’s problems within the Constitution”, said Bolsonaro in an interview this Monday (25) upon arriving in Brasília.
“It’s crazy to talk about a coup, my God, it’s crazy, a coup with a retired general and five active officers. And another thing: a coup exists against a constituted authority, when it has already taken office”, he added.
