The (Federal Supreme Court) resumes this Tuesday (21) the , which brings together seven defendants accused of spreading false news about electronic voting machines and attacking leaders opposed to the 2022 coup d’état attempt.
The session of the First Panel will be marked by the vote of the rapporteur, minister, who must open the collegiate’s deliberation phase. Ministers (president), , and .
The defendants in this group are Ailton Barros (major expelled from the Army), Ângelo Denicoli (reserve major), Giancarlo Gomes Rodrigues (Army sergeant), Guilherme Marques de Almeida (Army lieutenant colonel), Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu (Army colonel), Marcelo Bormevet (federal police officer) and Carlos Cesar Rocha (president of the Instituto Voto Legal).
Last week, the Attorney General of the Republic, , . According to him, the group acted in an “information war” to discredit the electronic voting system and weaken democratic institutions, creating the environment that culminated in the attacks on January 8, 2023.
Gonet stated that, even with conduct carried out at different times, the accused responded collectively for being part of a criminal organization aimed at attempting a coup d’état. The attorney general also said that Bormevet and Giancarlo, former members of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency), participated in a parallel structure used to produce and disseminate disinformation against targets identified by ().
The defenses, in turn, contest the characterization of a criminal organization. They argue that the defendants did not know each other, that there was no division of tasks between them and that there is no evidence of participation in the actions that led to the acts of January 8th. Lawyers also maintain that sharing links or messages in private conversations cannot be classified as a crime.
The group is the second to be tried in the set of criminal actions in the coup plot. The series of trials began in September, when the court plenary sentenced former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to 27 years and 3 months in prison.
