The group is responsible for five crimes, two of them provided for in a law approved by Congress in 2021 and sanctioned by Bolsonaro himself during his government.
The standard, known as the Democracy Crimes Law, replaced the former National Security Law – remnant of the military dictatorship – and created a specific chapter in the Penal Code to punish attacks on institutions. The text criminalizes not only the consummation of a blow, but also the attempted democratic rupture.
Despite sanctioning the law, Bolsonaro vetoed important excerpts. Among them, the typification of the crime of “massive mass communication”, aimed at punishing the dissemination of fake news. The device provided for a penalty of 1 to 5 years in prison for those who produce or finance disinformation campaigns capable of compromising the integrity of the electoral process.
In addition to Bolsonaro, other former ministers who signed the sanction of the law in 2021 are also defendants in the coup plot process: Augusto Heleno, Walter Braga Netto and Anderson Torres. Only Damares Alves, who also signed the law when commanding the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, is not among the accused.
