Former Aeronautics Commander Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior told the Supreme Court (STF) on Tuesday that the armed forces chiefs even argued, in meetings with Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the possibility of arresting Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who was president of the TSE at the time. The statement was made during the last in the process that investigates the attempted coup d’état in 2022.
According to Baptista Junior, the hypothesis was considered in a brainstorm with the other commanders and Jair Bolsonaro, but was soon discarded. “I remember that there was this cogitation of arresting Minister Alexandre de Moraes. And someone commented, ‘Tomorrow the STF will give habeas corpus and let go. We will arrest the others?’. That was enough to close the matter,” said the military.
Baptista Junior reported that he attended five meetings with then -President Jair Bolsonaro in November 2022, following Bolsonaro’s electoral defeat to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT). The meetings took place on days 2, 12, 14, 22 and 24, with the presence of the commanders of the other Armed Forces and the then Minister of Defense, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira. He said he did not remember if former Justice Minister Anderson Torres attended these meetings.
According to him, the initial objective of the meetings was to discuss measures to guarantee the law and the order (GLO) in the face of the climb of tension in the country, such as the roads on the roads and the coup camps. However, he said that, from November 11, it was clear that Bolsonaro’s intention was to prevent Lula’s possession, and not guaranteeing security until the presidential transition.
“The initial concern was social peace, avoid radicalizations and maintain stability. But then I realized that there was a political goal: to avoid the possession of the president -elect,” he said.
The former commander’s statement reinforces A, which points Jair Bolsonaro and his allies as articulators of a plan to subvert the outcome of the elections and perpetuate the former president in power.
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With the end of the hearing phase of prosecution witnesses, the Supreme Court should advance in the coming weeks for the hearing of the defense witnesses and the analysis of the procedural instruction.
