The former president’s defense () criticized this Sunday (26) the first part of the accusation and called the investigation “semi-secret”, without lawyers’ full access to the information.
The lieutenant colonel’s statement to the Federal Police in August 2023 was Gaspari.
The military cited, but not all were indicted more than a year later for the crimes of violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état and criminal organization.
Signed by lawyers Paulo Cunha Bueno, Daniel Tesser and Celso Sanchez Vilardi, Bolsonaro’s defense note “expresses his indignation at new ‘selective leaks’, as well as his disagreement with the fact that, while he is being denied legal access to complete of said collaboration, its content, on the other hand, came and continues to be repeatedly publicized in media outlets”.
The lawyers claim that full disclosure harms the right to full defense and that “defenses are given selective access to information, preventing the full context of the evidence.”
“‘Semi-secret’ investigations are incompatible with the democratic rule of law, which our legal system seeks to preserve,” he states.
Some points of Cid’s first statement were already known — including because they supported the attempted coup around () —, but, until then, the entirety of the document was not known.
The former president is mentioned in the statement, in which Cid states that Bolsonaro was working with two hypotheses to reverse the result of Lula’s election. One would be to find fraud at the polls, which a group close to Bolsonaro was unable to do, and another would be to convince the Armed Forces to join a coup d’état.
Another person mentioned, senator Jorge Seif (PL-SC), also spoke about the case, saying Cid’s statements were “fallacious, absurd and untrue.” Seif was classified by the lieutenant colonel as part of the most radical wing close to the former president, which would have encouraged him to try to carry out a coup.
“I have never heard, addressed or insinuated anything about the supposed coup with the President of the Republic nor with any of those mentioned in the leaked statement. The content of the illegally leaked statement is just a “classification” opinion that criminally includes me as part of a fictitious group, and does not contain any specific factual report about my participation that never existed”, said Seif in a note.
He denied that he had, in meetings with Bolsonaro, “addressed or hinted at the decree of intervention or other exceptional measures, which proves that the leaked statement is completely untrue.”
A Sheet tried to contact the other people mentioned by Cid in the leaked statement. In addition to not responding, members of the Bolsonaro family, such as former first lady Michelle, have remained silent on the topic for now on social media.
Michelle is cited by Cid, alongside the federal deputy (PL-SP), as a member of the most radical group that would have instigated the former president to carry out a coup d’état.
The de Cid cited 9 of the suspects of participating in an attempted coup to prevent the inauguration of .
In total, the lieutenant colonel named more names involved in the coup plot. The list includes general, former minister and defeated candidate for vice president, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, former Minister of Defense and former Army commander, and former number two of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, as well as figures such as Bolsonaro’s former advisor, considered one of the main organizers of the coup plan.
The statement also talks about the actions of former Navy commander Admiral Almir Garnier, who carried out the coup, and addresses the actions of the president of the PL, who allegedly tried to find fraud at the polls, in addition to other names.
Cid’s plea bargain was approved by the (Supreme Federal Court) in and came to have its validity called into question after the soldier presented behavior identified as omission and with contradictions in relation to PF investigations. The agreement, however, was maintained by Minister Alexandre de Moraes after the military officer provided clarifications.
Filipe Martins’ defense has already said that the indictment was “fabricated entirely based on conclusions and fanciful narratives — never on facts and concrete evidence”, being “laughable and legally unsustainable”.
General Estevam Theophilo, former head of the Land Operations Command, stated on other occasions that the soldier did not receive any coup drafts during the period. In Cid’s first statement, the soldier is described as a legalist.
