The former president () has sought to take to the narrative dispute in the coup plot process.
Reported on charges of having a decree establishing an exception state in the country after being defeated in the 2022 elections, the former Mandanker accumulates public statements.
This speech that for some may sound like a confession, Bolsonaro adds, however, that everything he studied would be within the “four lines.” He also says he never spoke of “blow.”
According to the Constitution, however, they do not serve the purpose that the former president moved: the dissatisfaction with the result of the polls, which gave Lula (PT) victory.
While the state of defense can only be decreed when order or social peace is threatened “by serious and imminent institutional instability or affected by large -proportion calamities,” the even more severe state of siege applies to war situations, foreign armed aggression or severe nationally repercussion.
Study of the so -called authoritarian legalism, the professor of law Heloisa Câmara, UFPR (Federal University of Paraná), points out that, as occurred at other times in Brazilian history, Bolsonaro seeks for acts that are in themselves unconstitutional.
“This game of what is constitutional and what is exceptional is not new in our history,” she says, which recalls the fact that the military dictatorship itself has organized itself from a strongly legalistic base, giving as an example institutional act # 1, which sought to give a
“It is a rhetoric that serves to weaken and to create this uncertainty of what is legal, what is a rule of law, what is a constitutional state and what is not,” he says.
“An election that was won by another candidate and trying to use any mechanism, whether constitutional or infraconstitutional, not to make the succession of power fits into a classic concept of coup,” he explains.
While Bolsonaro bets part of his chips on the plane of narrative dispute, his legal defense focuses on the other hand, as the allegation of the former ordinant of orders, and adopts technical debate.
In a play filed at, his team of lawyers argues that, even if it was possible to rely on the whistleblower’s words, the “alleged draft of the decree” would be in a stage that is not punishable: that of preparatory acts.
“[A suposta minuta] It is not an act capable of overcoming the limit of preparation, never invading the sphere of the execution of so -called crimes against democratic institutions. “
In this sense, it points out that the document was never signed – a discourse adopted equally by Bolsonaro, which adds that it has not convened the Council of the Republic (a body that must be heard previously to the decree of this type of measure).
Approved in 2021 and sanctioned by Bolsonaro himself, both the crime of coup d’état and the abolition of the democratic rule of law by which the former president is accused already punishing his own attempt.
Lawyer Vinícius Assumpção, who is a doctor of law from UnB (University of Brasilia) and director of IBCCRIM (Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences), states that, despite being possibilities provided for in the Constitution, there is no norm that allows to invoke a state of defense or siege to counteract a democratic and legitimate electoral context.
“The cogitation of this possibility and, after the cogitation, the implementation of acts focused on the execution of this initiative are, in my understanding, attempts to give a constitutional legal clothing to something that is clearly a coup stance,” he says.
He also points out that there is a set of factors that make the legal debate around the complex case, such as the unprecedented situation that is being judged and the fact that the criminal types involved in the process are being used for the first time in recent years.
Just as there are nuances that remove the formal defense of the former president’s public discourses, also from the chronological point of view his posture against the calls has changed.
Although the first document of the type linked to members of the Bolsonaro government, the first time the former president made a statement that seemed to admit some kind of involvement was.
“The coup is because there is a draft of a state of defense decree. Blow using the constitution? Have holy patience,”
Two weeks before this speech, based on identified messages dealing with the discussion about a coup decree.
In addition, by that time, this predicting state of siege instead of defense – was public for months, just as I had.
In March 2024, the evidence would also come to light the evidence that Bolsonaro would have acted to avoid Lula’s possession and are now central witnesses in the coup plot action.
According to Freire Gomes, former Army commander, a document presented by Bolsonaro to military heads in a meeting in December had the same content as the PF draft at the home of former Justice Minister Anderson Torres a few days after attacks on the three powers square.
In 2023, the Electoral Defense of Bolsonaro argued that, besides the draft, it was not signed or found in possession of it, nor were it evidence that he would have participated in his writing.
“There is no evidence or news that it has been aware of any authority or citizen,” the play said at the time before these other elements surface.
“There is no news of any providence of transposition of the world of paper draft to that of phenomenal reality, that is, never extravated the plan of the cogitation.”
Find out what are some of the draft and remember Bolsonaro phrases:
The drafts seized
State of Defense: In January 2023 was a draft foreseeing the decree of state of defense in the TSE and the creation of an electoral regularity committee to investigate the “compliance and legality of the electoral process”
State of siege: Already in June of the same year, it came to public that the Federal Police had also found a file on Cid’s cell phone that dealt with. Months later, in February 2024, a document of the same content was seized at the headquarters of the PL – according to Bolsonaro his defense had sent him the file found with Cid for him to be aware of the investigation
Denunciation
According to Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, who is a whistleblower in the process, Bolsonaro received the initial version of the draft scam from former advisor Filipe Martins. Also according to him, from it, the former president would have requested changes
Witnesses
The then army and aeronautics commanders at the end of the Bolsonaro government, and, respectively ,.
They report that they participated in meetings with the former president in which legal instruments of exception were discussed, such as a state of defense, guarantee of the law of order and state of siege. They also confirm a meeting at the Ministry of Defense, in which the General and then Minister of the folder, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, presented once again the document to the three commanders, in this case, without the presence of Bolsonaro.
Other evidence
Among the tests related to the discussion about the minutes is, for example, an audio message from Cid to Freire Gomes, from December 9, 2022, where the then Bolsonaro orders helper said that the former president had “wiped” the decree, making a much more brief version.
Cid message was also identified to a colonel in which he said, “He [Theophilo] He wants to do … since the PR subscribes. “Bolsonaro had at that time the journey of the coup to the General, which was from the Army Land Operations Command. In the same period of the message, the entry and exit of Theophilo in dawn is recorded and exit.
In addition, other messages between different actors are used by PGR in the complaint citing discussions about a decree and the support of the Armed Forces, as well as the pressure made against the generals to adhere to the investers. There are also entry and exit records of the dawn on the dates where the meetings would have occurred.
Bolsonaro Phrases
Feb.2024, in
“What is a blow? Blow is a tank on the street. It’s a weapon. It’s conspiracy. It’s bringing political classes to your side, business. What’s a blow. None of this was done in Brazil. And otherwise, why do you still accuse me of a blow?”
“Now, the blow is because there is a draft of a state of defense decree. Coup using the Constitution? Have holy patience”
Nov.2024, within days after indictment by the PF
“For my part there has never been a coup discussion. If anyone came to ask me, I would talk, okay, and the ‘after day’? And the next day, how is the world before us. Now all possible measures within the four lines within the Constitution I studied.
Mar.2025, in speech to journalists
“I talked to several people at this time, I’ve always dispatched with all the ministers, I’ve always had more affection for the power commanders, no problem. You argue to talk about the constitutional device, what’s the evil in this?”
“Do you think any commander was going to accept a blow? Ask any of the three commanders: ‘At some point the former president spoke in scam with you.’
Mar.2025, in A to Folha
“If we resorted [ao TSE]could go to $ 200 million. If I won’t go to the Electoral Court, where can you go? I talked to people, inside the four lines, that you are tired of listening, what can we do? Hence it was looked there, [estado de] place, [estado de] defense, [artigo] 142, intervention… “
