Four days after the general’s arrest Walter Braga Net in the so-called “coup investigation”, . In an interview with the newspaper The State of S. Paulocriminalist José Luís Oliveira Lima, appointed to defend the former minister, guarantees that the change is not related to the possibility of negotiating a plea bargain.
A collaboration agreement, according to the defense, is out of the question. “The general did not commit any crime. Therefore, he will not collaborate”, he assures.
According to the lawyer, Braga Netto could not implicate former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), nor anyone else being investigated, because he had no participation in the coup plan. “General Braga Netto is a democrat, he did not participate in any coup meetings”, he argues.
Oliveira Lima visited Braga Netto, on Wednesday (18), at the Command of the 1st Army Division, in Vila Militar, in Deodoro, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). The lawyer claims that the general was surprised and outraged by the arrest. The defense’s first step will be to ask for the former minister’s testimony to clarify points he considers important.
Braga Netto was preventively arrested for trying to obstruct the investigation into the coup plan. According to the PF, he tried to obtain confidential information about Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid’s accusation to pass on to other people being investigated and also aligned versions with allies.
The defense denies interference from the general. The lawyer states that the accusations are based exclusively on the version of Mauro Cid, “a whistleblower with zero credibility”.
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When requesting the general’s arrest, the Federal Police (PF) also pointed out that he financed the action of Army Special Forces officers, the “black kids”, to kill Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and vice Geraldo Alckmin, in 2022. Braga Netto would have delivered resources to the coup plotters in a wine bag. The information was also passed on by Mauro Cid in his statement.
“This accusation is a lie, the general never handed over money to finance any type of plan. It is at least curious, to be kind, that eight months later, the collaborator, who has already changed the version several times, now brings this fanciful version”, says Oliveira Lima.
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The general is one of 40 indicted by the PF for coup d’état, criminal organization and violent abolition of the rule of law. The former minister was mentioned 98 times in the coup inquiry report and named as a “central figure” of the coup plot.
The PF investigation also indicated the general’s influence in a veiled but aggressive campaign to pressure the then Army commander, Marco Antônio Freire Gomes, to join the coup.
In a computer seized in the room of General Walter Braga Netto’s advisors, the PF found a presentation that he would have used in lectures at military clubs.
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The material addresses the “evolution of the civil-military relationship in Brazil” and defends the “power of political pressure” of the Armed Forces to “actively participate in national decisions” and “expand the power of influence on the Esplanada”.
The defense states that Braga Netto hopes to prove his innocence: “He wants to clarify the facts as quickly as possible.”
(With Estadão Content)
