Indicted by the Federal Police (PF) for the crimes of violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état and criminal organization, the former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) awaits a probable complaint from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on charges of conspiracy against the country’s democratic system to defend itself against charges before the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
The PGR intends to present more than one complaint to the STF against the 40 people indicted in the so-called “coup investigation”. The idea is to divide the accusations that affect Bolsonaro, former ministers Braga Netto and Augusto Heleno and 37 others involved in the case according to the “cores” of the criminal organization, but not necessarily with the names used by the PF to name these groups.
An indictment is the imputation of someone, by the police authority, for committing an illegal act. Thus, it means that, for the PF, Bolsonaro committed such crimes. With this, the former president goes from the status of “suspect” to that of “probable perpetrator of the criminal offense”. However, he continues to enjoy the presumption of innocence.
The next step will be the PGR’s demonstration. The probable complaint must be forwarded to Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the inquiry into the alleged coup attempt. The natural path is for the complaint to be assessed by the court’s First Panel, made up of Moraes, Cármen Lúcia, Cristiano Zanin, Flávio Dino and Luiz Fux.
In December 2023, the STF accepted a proposal from Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, president of the Court, and reestablished the competence of the Panels to prosecute and judge criminal actions (APs) against authorities with jurisdiction in the Court, as is the case of Bolsonaro. The changes to the Internal Regulations of the STF aim to “rationalize the distribution of criminal cases and reduce the overload of the plenary”.
Allies of the former president understand that Bolsonaro’s defense should ask for the case to be analyzed in the Court’s plenary, in an attempt to seek “more favorable” votes for the former president, like the ministers appointed during the Bolsonaro administration, Nunes Marques and André Mendonça. It will be up to the rapporteur to decide whether to maintain the natural course of the process or call the plenary.
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Indictment
The former president and 36 other allies were indicted by the PF, in November 2024, for the crimes of violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état and criminal organization. For the first time in Brazil’s democratic history, an elected president faces indictment on charges of conspiring against the country’s democratic system. In December, three more were indicted.
The report states that Bolsonaro knew about the plan to kill the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT)or vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) and the minister Alexandre de Moraes in 2022. In addition to cell phone messages, videos, recordings, testimonies from Mauro Cid’s plea bargain, there is a draft of a coup decree, which, according to the PF, was written and adjusted by Bolsonaro.
