Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) says he runs the risk of being arrested due to “arbitrariness” by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and has already been the target of three search and seizure operations – which he classifies as “absurd”.
He is cited as the mastermind of an alleged coup d’état plan that began shortly after he lost the 2022 presidential election and which intended, among other measures, to kill the then elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) , vice Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) and minister Alexandre de Moraes.
“We live in a world of arbitrariness. Now I can’t go to sleep worried that the PF will be at my house early tomorrow. I already had three [operações de] search and seizure, okay? Absurd, absurd. I take risks, without owing anything, I take risks. [O STF] He will act arbitrarily, we will see the consequences”, said Bolsonaro in an interview with UOL published this Thursday (28).
On the other hand, despite knowing the risk of being arrested, Bolsonaro does not rule out going into exile in an embassy, as persecuted leaders from other countries often do. He himself says he is a victim of persecution.
“Embassy, from what I see in the history of the world, you know, anyone who finds themselves persecuted can go there. If I owed anything, I would be in the United States, I wouldn’t have come back”, he pointed out.
Bolsonaro traveled to the United States on December 30, 2022 to not participate in Lula’s inauguration as president, and returned to Brazil on March 30, 2023. He spent 89 days in the North American country to “get a better view of the our country abroad, it was a learning experience, an observation of what happens here”, he said at the time.
However, the Federal Police states that he traveled for fear of being arrested if the alleged coup d’état plan was discovered, and that it culminated in the acts of January 8, 2023. For the authority, there were attempts to carry out the rupture democracy throughout December and then inflame protesters to provoke the Armed Forces to join the movement in January.
The former president also criticized that the explosions caused near the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Chamber of Deputies the week before last were unfairly linked to him. “What do I have to do with the guy with the firecracker? It fell into my account. Alexandre himself the next day: fuck me”, he amended.
Bolsonaro and 36 other people were indicted on suspicion of developing a plan that would attempt to carry out a coup d’état to prevent Lula’s inauguration in 2023. In addition to the former president, his then candidate for vice president, General Walter Braga Netto, are also targets; former minister general Augusto Heleno, who commanded the Institutional Security Office (GSI); Admiral Almir Garnier, former commander of the Navy, among other high-ranking military personnel, former ministers and allies.
