The Attorney General of the Republic, , is preparing a joint complaint against the former president () in order to bring together the cases of the coup plot, the Saudi jewelry and the vaccination card. Lawyers heard by Sheet differ on the viability of the strategy.
A indicted Bolsonaro on suspicion of involvement in a plan to prevent the inauguration of () in 2022. The criminal charge is added to .
In addition to being a suspect in the investigation, the former president has also been indicted by the PF in an investigation into gifts received by the Brazilian government and counterfeiting against Covid-19.
Bolsonaro is not a defendant in any of the cases nor is he formally accused. The will analyze them and define the next steps according to the elements collected in the investigations. The body may file a complaint, request the investigation be closed or request further action.
The Prosecutor’s Office confirms that it has already received the PF report on the coup plot. The law establishes a deadline of 15 days for a statement to be made, but, in practice, the deadline can be made more flexible if more time is needed. The institution does not lose the right to file a complaint if it is not complied with.
The attorney general is considering presenting a joint accusation against the former president, combining the cases. The strategy is at the discretion of , say experts interviewed by the report.
When offering the indictment, the PGR must observe whether there is proof of the materiality of the crime and evidence of authorship, that is, concrete elements that prove the existence of a crime and evidence that it is related to an author.
The content of the report will be analyzed by the Strategic Group to Combat Undemocratic Acts of the MPF (Federal Public Ministry).
Gonet should only file a complaint against Bolsonaro in 2025. Ministers of the STF, in turn, assess that the trial should take place in the first half of next year, to avoid the 2026 electoral calendar.
Criminal lawyer Carolina Amorim, with a doctorate in criminal procedure, believes that it would be correct for the PGR to offer three complaints, as they are distinct investigations. “The investigation into vaccines and jewelry has no connection with the accusations of the alleged coup plot,” he states, saying that similar circumstances and a common time and place would be necessary for a unique piece.
The argument originates from the hypotheses in article 76 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which establishes the situations that motivate the joining of accusations, such as when the evidence of one infraction interferes with that of others or when the conduct is carried out by the same people jointly. , at the same time and in the same place.
According to Jacinto Coutinho, professor of criminal procedural law at UFPR (Federal University of Paraná), there is no legal impediment to uniting cases in the same complaint, although it is “somewhat risky, due to the complexity of the process and possible difficulty for the defense.”
Coutinho maintains that, despite there being “remotely a connection” between the cases, they are different situations and different structures, so the ideal would be to make a complaint for each fact and result in the respective processes.
“The risk of shuffling too much and adding complexity to the process is committing an addiction. In the face of an addiction, what happened in the past happened”, says the professor.
Maurício Zanoide de Moraes, professor of criminal procedure at USP (University of São Paulo), on the other hand, considers that there is more logic in constructing a narrative with a beginning, middle and end, even if it is divided into groups, than doing it in a isolated.
According to him, the Prosecutor’s Office could offer a joint complaint if it judged that it made sense from the point of view of efficiency, usefulness and a better overall investigation of conduct.
But the lawyer cites obstacles, such as, for example, the fact that the prosecution and defense can each call up to eight witnesses for each alleged conduct. If there are four charges, there would already be 64 witnesses within the limit set by law.
“Imagine the complexity that doesn’t take,” he says. “There is no point in the Prosecutor’s Office offering a complaint that takes years to complete.”
Another issue is the difference in the stages of each investigation. The need for new steps in one of them may delay the offering of the single complaint. An advantage of presenting three would be to allow each case to mature in its own time.
Raquel Scalcon, consultant and professor of criminal law at FGV-SP, states that, if the PGR clearly identifies connections between the investigations, filing a joint complaint makes sense. To do this, there would need to be a narrative that weaves together a single act with several steps, says the lawyer.
“This complaint needs to be very well constructed so that it can be sustained and effectively be viable, because it involves a former president, it involves a discussion about an attempted coup. It is a very, very sensitive case. I hope and imagine that the PGR it will be very cautious. It will not be a hasty complaint”, says Scalcon.
