Brasilia. The Brazilian Federal Police will present a formal accusation against former President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday in their investigation of an alleged coup plot after losing the 2022 elections, in addition to other crimes, police sources reported.
The final police report caps nearly two years of speculation about Bolsonaro’s role in the election denial movement that ended in riots by his supporters that devastated the capital Brasilia in January 2023, just a week after his rival, the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, assumed office.
Many protesters said they wanted to create chaos to justify a military coup.
Some of the alleged plotters had a plan to assassinate Lula before he took office, police say. Investigators found evidence that Bolsonaro was aware of that alleged plan, a police source said.
Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation political persecution. His lawyer told Reuters he would wait to see the report before commenting.
The police indictments would be a new blow to Bolsonaro’s plans to run for president in 2026. The recent victory of US President-elect Donald Trump had emboldened Bolsonaro allies who were trying to overturn a decision judicial that prevented him from holding public office for attacking the legitimacy of the 2022 elections.
Once police submit their report to Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, the attorney general’s office will decide whether to file charges against Bolsonaro and any former aides involved.
The police investigation will point to Bolsonaro as a key player in the conspiracy and seek to hold him criminally responsible for an attempt to violently overthrow the democratic government, a police source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The source said senior members of Bolsonaro’s government will also be involved, including his 2022 running mate, retired General Walter Braga Netto, who was defense minister, and retired General Augusto Heleno, who was national security adviser, along with about 40 other suspects.
Heleno’s lawyer declined to comment and a representative for Braga Netto did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Police on Tuesday arrested five people suspected of being involved in the assassination plot against Lula, then president-elect, and his running mate Geraldo Alckmin, days before they took office.
Lula, speaking at the presidential palace on Thursday, said he was lucky to be alive. “The attempt to poison me and Alckmin didn’t work and here we are,” he said.
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