The defense of the former president () told the (Supreme Federal Court) that the prosecution of the (Attorney General’s Office) of the coup plot is absurd and mixes events to get a conviction without evidence.
“There is no way to condemn Jair Bolsonaro based on the evidence produced in the case file, which unfortunately demonstrated that he determined the transition, avoided chaos with truckers and attested to his voters that the world would not end on December 31, that the people would realize that the new government would not do well to the country,” he says.
The statement was made in the final allegations of Bolsonaro’s defense in the process of the alleged attempted coup at the end of 2022. The deadline for defendants’ defenses present their final version ends on Wednesday.
The defense says that the Federal Police could not find the alleged scammer minutes even though they seized hundreds of cell phones and computers.
In the lawyers’ version, the documents dealing with the attempted coup d’état are only reported by whistleblower Mauro Cid, former Bolsonaro orders.
“The failure in the accusation is profound. It uncovers that this narrative about a decree with diverse prisons existed only in the non-corroborated word of the whistleblower, and displays the emptiness of the presumption that the minutes would have been changed by the former president,” he says.
The team led by lawyer Celso Vilardi argues that the lack of documents in the prosecution of PGR is “also the lack of proof of its change.”
“The mantra of this process already comes here: no one saw, no witness, not even the whistleblower. After all, there is not the alleged draft decree in the file with a ‘wicked’ text providing only the arrest of Minister Alexandre de Moraes,” he adds.
According to Bolsonaro’s defense, discussions waged between the former president and the armed forces heads were limited to “preventing social chaos that the threat of road closure by truckers could cause.”
It also dedicates part of the document to doubt the voluntariness of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid in the award-winning collaboration agreement with the Federal Police.
“This is proof of the case. A denunciation manipulated since its first statement and therefore worthless. Mauro Cid protected himself by pointing his finger at the one whose acts were always public and government,” he says.
Bolsonaro was denounced by PGR (Attorney General of the Republic) as the leader of the coup plot who planned a coup after Lula (PT) defeat him in the 2022 presidential elections.
The former president and 33 others were accused of committing the crimes of coup, attempted abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, armed criminal association, qualified damage to public assets and deterioration of listed heritage.
The maximum penalties added exceed 40 years. The expectation in the Supreme is that the trial will take place in September.
Attorney General Paulo Gonet calls for Bolsonaro’s conviction for five crimes in his final allegations. He says the complaint reveals “with precision and rich detail” the performance of the criminal organization.
“Defendant Jair Messias Bolsonaro […] It is leader of the criminal organization denounced in these records, as it is the main articulator, greatest beneficiary and author of the most serious executory acts aimed at the rupture of the Democratic Rule of Law, “says PGR.
Gonet says Bolsonaro’s insurrection plan was put into practice from July 2021, when the former president promoted a live from Alvorada’s palace against the electronic ballot boxes. The politician said at the time that the Armed Forces would be ready to act at any time and attacked the legitimacy of the STF ministers.
“Concutation to the Armed Forces – which appear in the defendant’s speech as the last instance of guaranteeing” popular will ” – reveals the beginning of practical execution of the rupture plan with the Democratic Rule of Law,” says Gonet.
PGR says Bolsonaro continued to articulate speeches with assistants and supporters in attack on the electoral system, with the support of the structure of ABIN (Brazilian Intelligence Agency). The movement grew on the eve of the presidential election.
With the defeat in the electoral process and the failed attempts to find ballot boxes, Bolsonaro “began the meetings phase with high -ranking military” to submit proposals for a coup, according to Gonet.
“The posture adopted by the defendant left no doubt about his disruptive intent and his leadership in the movements exercised by the criminal organization,” says PGR.
