Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) confirmed, in an interview with UOLwhich discussed with the Armed Forces commanders the possibility of decreeing a state of siege after the result of the 2022 elections, but denied that this was a coup attempt.
Bolsonaro classified the debate on the subject as a “measure provided for in the Constitution” and compared his situation with that of former President Dilma Rousseff (PT), who, according to him, would also have studied the appeal in 2016.
“It was not abnormal to discuss this possibility. It is a constitutional remedy,” he said. The former president claimed that, after the defeat at the polls, there was a concern with the “ancestry” of Minister Alexandre de Moraes about the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), which, in his view, endangered the smoothness of the electoral process.
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Criticism of the STF and the investigation
In the interview, Bolsonaro made harsh criticism of the Supreme Court (STF) and Minister Alexandre de Moraes, whom he accused of persecution. According to him, there is a “feeling” that people who want to see him dead would be protected by the system.
“The MP is the one who has to prove that I am guilty, not I have to prove that I am innocent,” he said. “In the Supreme Court, there are five ministers – we know their history, quoting Zanin, Dino and Moraes. Moraes has a persecution against me. As much as we have, he never accepted any request from us.”
Bolsonaro also questioned the decision of the First Class of the Supreme Court of (PL-RJ), limiting the suspension only to crimes committed after the parliamentarian’s diplomation. For the former president, the criminal action should be totally suspended, as he is accused of a “continued crime” that begins with Live in which he questioned the electronic ballot boxes and goes to the scammer acts of January 8.
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“I’ve been charged with a continued crime from Live criticizing the electronic ballot box until January 8, where it would be the final blow. All along this route is interconnected. So it makes no sense to partially suspend the action of the branch,” he said.
State of siege
The former president argued that conversations with the military about a state of siege were a legitimate precaution in the face of the perception that the TSE could be playing against him. Bolsonaro said he never ordered the implementation of the measure and that, in a second meeting with allies, the theme was discarded.
“If I had planned a blow, I would not have sanctioned the law that increases the penalty for coup,” he said.
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Bolsonaro denied involvement in the acts of vandalism that occurred in Brasilia on January 8 and said he has always called for peaceful demonstrations in his videos. He accused militants from the left of infiltrating protests to generate chaos and harm his image.
He also minimized the importance of the so-called “coup draft” found at former Minister Anderson Torres’s house, classifying the document as a piece of no legal value. “This can be a script for a soap opera or anything else. If I was the instructor of constitutional law, I would zero to the student who elaborated it,” he said.
Political future and pressure on governors
Bolsonaro stated that if he is convicted, his political career will be ended, given his age. However, he said that he does not intend to give up easily and has called for support from governors who have met with former President Michel Temer to discuss a “right-wing alternative” to 2026.
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“I go to the last second. I even ask the governors to talk about the validity of our plate to 2026,” he said.
Bolsonaro’s speech occurs amid a series of judicial developments that put him as a defendant in investigations into attempted coup, criminal organization and undemocratic acts. The former president, who has been sentenced to eight years of ineligibility by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), now faces the risk of a criminal conviction that could end his political trajectory.
