Former Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro has been accused with orchestrating a coup to reverse his 2022 election defeat, complicating the far-right firebrand’s already slim chances of making a political comeback.
Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet accused Bolsonaro and his running mate, Gen. Walter Braga Netto, of forming a “criminal organisation” that sought to overturn Brazil’s 40-year-old democracy.
According to the charge sheet, 34 people were charged in connection with the scheme, including prominent military officers such as Bolsonaro’s former national security adviser, retired Gen. Augusto Heleno, and former navy Cmdr. Almir Garnier Santos.
The case echoes the criminal charges faced by U.S. President Donald Trump that accused him of seeking to overturn his own reelection loss in 2020. That case was repeatedly delayed and ultimately dropped after Trump was returned to power in last November’s U.S. election.
The charges against Bolsonaro come just months after Brazil’s federal police wrapped up a two-year investigation into his role in the election-denying movement that culminated in riots by his supporters in Brasilia in early 2023, a week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office.
Many demonstrators stated that they intended to cause disruption in order to justify an impending military coup. Late last year, authorities arrested five alleged conspirators suspected of plotting to murder leftist leader Lula before he took office.
Prosecutors said the Bolsonaro-led scheme included attempts to poison Lula, a former union leader who spent two terms as president.
Lula narrowly defeated the right-wing candidate in the late 2022 presidential election.
“They sought total control over the three branches of government; they outlined a central office that would serve the purpose of organizing the new order they intended to establish,” the charging statement stated, referring to individuals accused of pushing the coup plot.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has repeatedly denied breaking any laws and has called the claims against him a witch hunt by his political opponents.
Lawyers representing Bolsonaro said in a Tuesday statement that he never supported any movement aimed at dismantling Brazil’s democratic rule of law or the institutions that uphold it.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers have two weeks to respond to the charges before the Supreme Court decides whether it will accept the charges and potentially hold a dramatic, televised trial.
If convicted, Bolsonaro faces at least a dozen years behind bars.
Bolsonaro’s former running mate, Braga Netto, was arrested two months ago after police accused him of interfering in the investigations.
In a statement late Tuesday, his lawyers called the charges a “fantasy” that will not erase his “unblemished history” over four decades of service in the Brazilian Army.
A lawyer for former navy chief Garnier Santos said he would comment once he had fully reviewed the charges, while a lawyer for Heleno did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Supreme Court conviction could mark an insurmountable obstacle to Bolsonaro’s hopes to run in the 2026 presidential election, in a potential rematch against Lula.
A 2010 law that Bolsonaro himself voted to pass when he was a member of Congress bars anyone convicted by an appeals court from running for office.
Two sources close to Bolsonaro said the former president has little hope the courts will rule in his favor. Instead, his allies hope to mobilize political support to increase the pressure on courts and lawmakers to clear a path for a comeback.
On Tuesday, hours before prosecutors presented the charges against him, Bolsonaro met with opposition senators to discuss a bill that would lower the length of time politicians are barred from elections if they commit irregularities.
