The Federal Supreme Court (STF) resumes on Tuesday (10) the trial on the alleged coup plan involving former President Jair Bolsonaro and 30 other defendants. The case, which investigates a possible plot to prevent the inauguration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, enters his second day of interrogations.
Bolsonaro arrived at the Supreme Court at 8:30 am and, soon, has questioned the logic of the process: “I have to prove that I am innocent or do they have to prove that I am guilty?” The former president maintained the tone of contestation by stating categorically that “coup did not exist.”
“If I can feel comfortable, get ready, it will be hours,” Bolsonaro warned, signaling that he intends to make a long testimony. By the established order, the former president will be the sixth to testify before the Court.
Defense strategy includes controversial videos
The former president revealed that he intends to present about twelve videos during his interrogation. The material would include from pronouncements to its statements from the current STF minister, Flávio Dino, with criticism of the electronic ballot boxes made before his appointment to the court.
The defense strategy also includes the speech of the former Lula government’s Pension Minister Carlos Lupi in an apparent attempt to demonstrate that criticism of the electoral system was not exclusive to Bolsonaro or his allies.
The tactic of using videos of political opponents suggests that the former president will try to relativize his own statements about the electoral system, presenting them as part of a legitimate political debate and not as evidence of coup conspiracy.
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Defense attacks Mauro Cid’s credibility
Lawyer Celso Vilardi, who represents Bolsonaro, arrived at the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning and immediately set off for the attack on the main whistleblower, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former Presidential Orders.
In conversation with journalists, Vilardi stated that Cid “lied, omitted, forgot and brought information that expressly contradict the complaint” during his testimony on the first day of hearings. “For the defense, it was great,” said the lawyer, signaling that he intends to explore contradictions in the whistleblower’s report.
The defense strategy seems clear: to discredit the main employee of the investigation, whose testimony is considered a key piece for the prosecution.
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Scam and “parallel abin”
On the first day of testimonials, Mauro Cid confirmed that Bolsonaro not only received one of the “minutes of the coup” from the hands of Filipe G. Martins, then presidency advisor, but would “wipe” the document to soften the arrests of authorities and keep only Minister Alexandre de Moraes in jail.
Cid’s confirmation reinforces the prosecution’s thesis on the former president’s direct involvement in the preparation of documents that could support an institutional break after his defeat in the 2022 elections.
Another defendant heard on the first day was Alexandre Ramagem, former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) and pre-candidate for the Rio de Janeiro City Hall by PL. In his statement, Ramagem denied the existence of an “parallel abin” and said he did not distribute any material, including the former president, about monitoring judges or questions to the electoral system.
