The first room of the Supreme Court of Brazil will begin on Tuesday the final phase of, accused of orchestrating a coup plot after losing the 2022 elections before the current president ,.
The ultra -rightist leader, for trying to obstruct the investigation, sits on the bench for five crimes against the democratic order with seven of his former allies, including former government and general ministers.
There will be five judges in charge of issuing a sentence, including Cristiano Zanin, former personal abogenous of Lula, and Flávio Dino, former Minister of Justice of the progressive leader, under enormous media and social expectation.
The trial will take place at the headquarters of the High Court, in Brasilia, and will be extended, a priori, over five days: 2, 3, 9, 10 and 12 September.
Trump’s interference
The process, one of the most important in Brazil’s recent history, has also been marked by the interference of the president of the United States ,.
The Republican leader has sanctioned several judges of the Brazilian Supreme and 50 % tariffs on Brazil in retaliation for the trial of Bolsonaro, who has described as a “witch hunt” against his political ally.
In the first session, the investigating judge Alexandre de Moraes, labeled as “dictator” by Bolsonaro, who declares himself a victim of a “persecution”, will read the report of the case, which began in 2023 after the violent assault on the institutions of January 8 of that year.
Then the Attorney General, Paulo Gonet, will take the floor to defend the accusation, who points to about thirty people as participants in a plot that sought to cancel the result of the presidential elections of 2022 and keep Bolsonaro in power.
The charges against Bolsonaro
The complaint consists of 272 pages and in it Gonet argues that the former head of state (2019-2022) was the “main articulator” and “leader” of a coup conspiracy that even included a plan to kill Lula and other authorities and other authorities ,.
The prosecutor is based on audios, meetings, documents, testimonies and confession of Bolsonaro’s ex-helpant, Lieutenant-Coronel Mauro Cid, who will also be on the bench of the accused.
Cid’s revelations were key to assembling the complaint against Bolsonaro, who faces a possible prison sentence of up to 40 years.
The former Edecán said that the former Brazilian president received, read and modified a decree to declare the state of siege, reverse the electoral triumph of Lula and detain a series of authorities, including some Supreme Judges.
Bolsonaro himself has recognized that he probe constitutional “alternatives” because he felt that justice harmed him in the last elections, but has always denied that he would like to “hit a blow” because for that, according to him, “war tanks in the streets are needed.”
The coup did not succeed because most of the commanders of the Armed Forces refused to embark on an authoritarian adventure of unpredictable consequences.
Thus, the Prosecutor’s Office accuses Bolsonaro, 70, five crimes: attempt at violent abolition of the democratic state of law, coup d’etat, armed criminal organization, damage against public heritage and deterioration of protected heritage.
After Gonet’s intervention, it will be the turn of the defenses and, finally, the five judges will vote. Alexandre de Moraes, as an instructor, will be the first to do so and will propose a penalty for the defendants.
Other pending causes
The Brazilian press is sure that the retired captain of the army will be convicted. In that case, your prison will not be automatic, because it still has a resource in the same court.
In addition, this is not the only judicial case that faces in court. In 2023 he was already disabled for eight years for abuse of power during the last elections and still has other pending investigations, including one for appropriating jewels that would be the heritage of the State and for spreading false news.
The last against the former governor opened last July for trying to obstruct the coup by coup. Police affirms that Bolsonaro and his son, deputy Eduardo, knocked on Trump’s door to press the Supreme Court to close the case.
The other defendants
These are the seven defendants, considered the nucleus of the coup plot, together with former president Bolsonaro:
Mauro Cid:
Lieutenant Colonel and former Edecán de Bolsonaro. His testimony served as the basis for research.
The defenses of other defendants unsuccessfully requested the cancellation of the Cid collaboration agreement because they consider that the former Governor’s assistant omitted information and contradicted himself in his statements.
Almir Garnier:
Admiral and former Marine. According to the investigation, Bolsonaro’s coup plan allegedly supported to annul the result of the 2022 presidential elections, in which Lula won Bolsonaro.
The Prosecutor’s Office notes that up to two occasions it was made available to the ultra -rightist leader to comply with their orders.
Walter Braga Netto:
In pretrial detention since December 2024, Braga Netto has been general of the Army Reserve and was Minister of the Presidency and Defense with Bolsonaro. In the 2022 elections, he was his candidate for vice president.
For the Prosecutor’s Office, the right hand of the then president participated in meetings for the execution and financing of the plan to kill Lula.
Paulo Sérgio Nogueira:
Also general retired from the army, he acted as a defense minister with Bolsonaro. The accusation defends that he supported the idea of intervening electoral justice and that served as a bridge between Bolsonaro and the military dome.
Anderson Torres:
He was Minister of Justice until December 2022 and the following month he assumed the Secretariat of Security of Brasilia, shortly before January 8, 2023, when thousands of Bolsononistas invaded the headquarters of the three powers in the last attempt to overthrow Lula.
Police found at home a draft presidential decree that raised a “military intervention” on electoral justice.
AUGUSTO HELENO:
General of the Army Reserve. He was Minister of Institutional Security in the Bolsonaro government. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of preparing a plan to breach judicial orders and spread suspicions unfounded about the elections.
The researchers argue that, if the coup had triumphed, he would have been the “head of the crisis cabinet” established to drive the country.
Alexandre Ramagem:
He was commissioner of the Federal Police and is currently a deputy. He directed the Brazilian intelligence agency during the Bolsonaro administration.
In 2024, he ran for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, but was defeated in the first round after being in second place, behind the current councilor, Eduardo Paes, ally of Lula.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, he had an “important role” when creating a state of opinion that questioned the legitimacy of the elections, in addition to building a parallel secret service to monitor political adversaries.
In his case, part of the accusations are suspended for their status as achor as a deputy and will resume when their mandate is finished.
In addition to these eight, there are another twenty involved in the coup plot, which will be judged in the following months.
