Lawyers ask for application of precautionary measures; The former minister of Bolsonaro is a defendant for attempted coup and has been arrested since December
The defense of General Walter Braga Netto filed an appeal in the (Supreme Court) against Minister Alexandre de Moraes who upheld the military’s pre -trial detention. Lawyer José Luís Oliveira Lima asks the magistrate to reconsider the determination or that, if maintained, bring the appeal to judgment to replace the arrest with alternative precautionary measures.
Former Minister of the Civil House and Defense of (PL) has been arrested since December 2024, suspected of trying to interfere with PF (Federal Police) investigations on an attempted coup. The goal was to get information about Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid’s denunciation, former Bolsonaro orders. Read the order (PDF – 484 KB).
On May 22, Moraes maintained the arrest of the general. In justification, he cited the testimony of former Air Force commander Carlos Baptista Júnior to the Court as a witness to the PGR (Attorney General’s Office). At the time, the brigadeiro who learned that Braga Netto was responsible for ordering the military to press him on social networks after he refused to join the attempted coup in 2022.
In the new request, the general’s defense repeats the argument that pre -trial detention no longer sustained, since Cid’s denunciation has been made public and investigations came to an end.
“It is currently undeniable that there are no ongoing investigations to be protected, just as for months there is no more confidentiality about Mauro Cid’s award -winning denunciation. Still, prosecution witnesses, collaborator witnesses and common witnesses between prosecution and defense have been heard;wrote the lawyer.
Already on the testimony of Baptista Júnior, the lawyer argues that the statements do not show that the freedom of the general would bring any risk to criminal action, since, according to him, is based on a “Fragile element of almost 2 years and 6 months ago (a single print of WhatsApp without contextualization), which is confused with the very object of the complaint”.
According to PGR’s complaint, Braga Netto would have guided military personnel from the special forces, the “black kids”, to articulate misinformation strategies to press Baptista Junior Brigadier to join the attempted coup. The accusation brings together text messages attributed to the general, in which he would have “Sit Pau at Baptista Júnior”.
According to the defense, Moraes’s decision, however, ignores that Baptista Júnior said in his own testimony that he only learned that Braga Netto was responsible for virtual attacks after the media investigations are released. Thus, the argument would configure a “Police hypothesis” and not one “Concrete fact”.
“Another relevant fact ignored by the decision is that the same witness of prosecution clearly asserted that Gen. Braga Netto did not participate in any of the meetings in which the alleged coup plot was discussed.”said the lawyer.
