The trial of the First Class of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that placed former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven other allies in the defendants’ bank presented clues about the points that defenses should explore in the course of the process to avoid a conviction for attempted coup. The lawyers are betting, among other points, in questions of evidence collected by the Federal Police (PF), noting that the elements are weaker than they seem. So far, the effort is not focused on refuting on the existence of a mobilization against democratic institutions.
Bolsonaro accompanies judgment of the Supreme alongside his lawyer, Celso Vilardi – Photo: Supreme Court / AFP
Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Celso Vilardi, insisted on the thesis that the draft predicted a coup d’état was sent to the politician by one of his lawyers, and stressed that there are no elements that prove Bolsonaro’s relationship with attacks on January 8, 2023.
The defender rebuts excerpts from the complaint of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR). In it, the execution of the attempted coup is recorded from mid -2021, when Bolsonaro began to attack the electoral system in a live.
– The government legitimately elected was his (…) How to speak at the beginning of execution by pronouncements and lives when the two criminal types have elements of violence and serious threat? (…) There was no element (against Bolsonaro), so a narrative begins about public pronouncements to end on January 8, which even the PF confirmed his participation. Not even the whistleblower made any relationship with him with 8 January, ”said Vilardi.
Defenses follow the same strategy of just driving their customers out of the suspicions, without considering the preparation for the coup and the broad scenario of conspiracy described by the prosecutor.
The lawyer of former Navy Commander Almir Garnier, Demóstenes Torres, was the only one to quote briefly that in the acts of January 8 there were not even weapons, but only stones, sticks and styls.
Demosthenes has addressed what he considers inconsistencies in the testimonials of former commanders Freire Gomes, from the Army, and Junior Baptist, from the Air Force, and also points out that the descriptions of the meetings in which the scammer drafts were discussed are inexpensive.
– He was at both meetings with the others in which he was presented (the draft). At the second meeting, the two (commanders) said they didn’t want to do anything and Garnier was silent. The (Paulo) Gonet (Attorney General of the Republic) treats this silence as he Anuity, but the law does not admit it-he told Globo.
Lawyer Matheus Milanez has sought to disbate the thesis that the notes found on his client’s agenda, General Augusto Heleno, are part of a coup plot. The agenda had, for example, “guidelines” on how to “disseminate attacks on the electoral system.”
– The pages (which are contained in the PGR denunciation) are not numbered, I don’t know what comes first and what comes next. Not even if they are actually on the agenda – says Milanez, who argues that there is no more evidence than connecting the military to a coup plan.
The lawyer also maintains that, unlike PGR, there is no similarities between the agenda and the texts discovered on the mobile phone of the former director general of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) Alexandre Ramagem. Ramage’s lawyer, Paulo Cintra, even says that the three text files kept on the federal police phone are very fragile elements to connect him to an attempt to coup.
Anderson Torres’s lawyer, Eumar Novacki, points out that he should use the “irrelevance” of his client’s participation in a Bolsonaro live in July 2021 that PGR points out to be the beginning of the then president’s massive attacks on the electoral system. Novacki also argues that the criminal types attributed to his client began to be effective in December 2021, after Live. The lawyer also seeks to overthrow the importance given by PGR to the draft coup, stressing that the document found with Torres was delivered to several other members of the government and already circulated even on the internet
“Between the prosecutor finding and proving there is a very long distance,” he said.
Lawyer José Luis Oliveira Lima, Juca, who defends General Braga Netto, widely criticizes the denunciation of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, noting that the military lies and only spoke of the general when he was in danger of losing the denunciation agreement. In his last statement, Cid stated that the former minister passed money to a military man who would have worked on the scamming plan in wine bag.
– There is no single (denunciation) phrase that imputes or individualizes a conduct of General Braga Netto. There is absolutely nothing, ”he said.
Defender of former Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, Andrew Farias confirmed Nogueira’s participation in a meeting with the Armed Forces commanders to present a draft decree with a coup content. However, he said that the general did not press the commanders to join.
– General Paulo Sérgio was responsible for avoiding a break, to maintain the unity of the Armed Forces. Forces commanders had to have eventually knowledge, if it existed, according to the complaint, a draft. And he didn’t press, this is unequivocal. He held the meeting, probed, and that’s it, ”Farias said in the STF.
Farias also stated that ICD’s denunciation would prove that the military did not support the attempted coup. In the denunciation, Cid says Nogueira was part of a group that was “totally against” any coup measure.
- Jair Bolsonaro: The coup draft would have been sent to the former president by one of his lawyers only after becoming news and that there are no elements that prove Bolsonaro’s relationship with January 8.
- Net Braga: The complaint of the PGR would not imply anything to the former minister, denies participation in the elaboration of a coup plan, says he did not have full access to the evidence and that the former joint of orders Mauro Cid mind in his denunciation.
- AUGUSTO HELENO: The agenda attributed to Heleno, used as proof by PGR, would contain only ‘varied notes’, without contextualization; Need for full access to tests; And Heleno would never have gone to camps in front of the barracks.
- Paulo Sérgio Nogueira: It maintains that the main element of the complaint is the denunciation and that Mauro Cid himself says that the then minister was against an armed blow and feared that the radical group would lead Bolsonaro to sign something.
- Anderson Torres: He considers that evidence listed are weak, such as participation in Live with Bolsonaro, says he did not prevarious on January 8, and had not directed the actions of the Federal Highway Police.
- Almir Garnier: Participants of 8/01 would have dicks, slings and nail slats, which would not characterize armed criminal organization; The three commanders of the forces signed a note, but only he was denounced.
- Alexandre Ramagem: Files found on your mobile phone are weak evidence of building a deleterious message to the electronic ballot boxes, and that the Firstmile tool has been discontinued in its management at ABIN.
- Mauro Cid: It states that the former presidential order provided relevant information and fulfilled his mission by contributing to the clarification of the facts, and reinforces that he expects his acquittal.
