The requests for loss of patents against (PL) and four other military personnel convicted of the 2022 coup plot will be judged by a court of different formation and whose members were appointed by presidents of different ideological lines. There are six ministers appointed by Lula (PT), three by Dilma Rousseff (PT), one by (MDB) and five by Bolsonaro.
The (Superior Military Court) began to look into the representations of the Military Public Ministry this Tuesday (3), when the rapporteurs for each were defined.
The court has a mixed formation, with members of the three Forces and civilians, and must give different responses to each process. the generals and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira have a good chance of escaping punishment, while Bolsonaro must also be convicted in the military court. The results, therefore, should be different for each case.
Predictions about the outcome prove difficult not only because of the novelty and relevance of the case, but because ministers must take into account the trajectory and the impact on the image of the conduct of those being judged.
Regarding former Navy commander Almir Garnier, for example, there is an assessment that he is well-liked in the Force, considered the most corporatist of the three. The ministers that came out of it, at the time, are three, less numerous than the civilians and those from the Army.
On the other hand, the admiral had a different situation from the other commanders during the trial of the coup plot in . He was accused of placing troops at the disposal of an institutional rupture. The stance can be interpreted as a stain on the image of the Armed Forces, something relevant to the barracks.
Only two of the ministers are read as more radical and the other two as conservative — one of them being indicated by . There are, in the current composition, four nominees in Lula’s current term, three of whom are newcomers with up to a quarter of experience on the court.
Squadron Admiral Leonardo Puntel and Air Lieutenant-Brigadier Carlos Augusto Amaral Oliveira are identified as those most aligned with Bolsonarism. Both were nominated by the former president in 2020.
The wing that may be more favorable to the defendants also includes Lourival Carvalho Silva, from the Army, and Péricles Aurélio Lima, from the Public Ministry and appointed by Dilma.
The declaration of unworthiness takes place with eight votes. The STM is made up of 15 ministers: 5 civilians and 10 military (four from the Army, three from the Navy and three from the Air Force).
In the last decade, the court judged 97 cases of loss of rank and patent. According to information from the STM, from January 2018 to November 2025, in 86% of trials (84 cases) the outcome was indignity.
However, the STM never judged generals to lose their rank.
The court has undergone changes in the last year, with the appointments made by Lula: Army generals Guido Amin Naves (2024), Flavio Marcus Lancia Barbosa and Anisio David de Oliveira Junior (2025), in addition to lawyer Verônica Sterman, sworn in in September.
As they have only been working at court for a short time, the profiles are still assessed as open.
The court’s leadership is considered to be the most progressive group. President Maria Elizabeth Rocha was appointed by Lula in 2007. Last year, she apologized to the victims of the military dictatorship for the mistakes made by the Military Justice.
The judge, however, does not vote in the trials, as she presides over the proceedings — only if the score results in a tie. In this case, her vote must be in favor of the defendant.
Today, Minister Joseli Parente Camelo holds the vice-presidency. He was nominated by Dilma in 2015, and was an official pilot for both her and Lula.
A minister said, with reservation, that judgments on indignity are based on the consciences of the magistrates themselves, not on a clear rule on the subject. The statement is in line with an advisor’s assessment, according to which the analyzes will have an important political factor.
These judgments represent, in the military career, an instrument to ensure the ethical conduct of officers. It is an analysis of whether the conviction by the STF results in the withdrawal of officer status and whether the soldier still deserves to keep his uniform.
According to the judge, cases of this type, in the traditional court procedure, are judged in around a year.
Judgments are still uncertain. One of the aspects is the novelty of this type of analysis.
“It’s the first time that we are really, in all these years of Republic and Empire, because this court dates back to 1808, judging the loss of rank of a general officer”, said Maria Elizabeth Rocha, on Tuesday.
“It is a symbolic judgment, without a doubt, paradigmatic and a jurisprudence that will define the direction of this court when it comes to preserving democracy”, he stated.
