In Brazil, federal police request the indictment of Jair Bolsonaro for attempted “coup d’état” in 2022

In Brazil, the federal police recommended, Thursday, November 21, to indict the former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, for an alleged coup attempt to prevent the return to power of his successor, Lula, after the 2022 election. The former head of state and thirty-six other people are the subject of a request for indictment for “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état and criminal organization” as part of this investigation, the police detailed in a press release.

“The federal police concluded on Thursday the investigation into the existence of a criminal organization which acted in a coordinated manner in 2022, in the attempt to maintain the president of the time in power”details this press release. The investigations lasted “nearly two years”. The report must be submitted by the Supreme Court to the Attorney General's Office, which will have to decide on this basis whether or not to initiate proceedings against the former head of state (2019-2023).

Jair Bolsonaro, 69, attacked Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, head of the investigation. He “conducts the entire investigation, arranges the testimonies, arrests without charge”accused Mr. Bolsonaro on X. “He does everything that the law does not say”he added, promising to continue “the struggle” on the judicial level. Mr. Bolsonaro is the target of several other investigations, but it is this case that could have the greatest political impact. He maintains his innocence and says he is a victim of “persecution”.

“Operation green and yellow dagger”

The former army captain is ineligible until 2030 for attacking without evidence the electronic ballot box system used during elections in Brazil. But he hopes to be able to have this conviction overturned to compete in the 2026 presidential election. On February 8, he was prohibited from leaving Brazilian territory as part of a vast police operation called “The Time of Truth” (“The moment of truth”in Latin), who that day had targeted several of his former close collaborators, with dozens of searches and arrests.

The list of thirty-seven people whose indictment investigators have recommended also includes former ministers in the Bolsonaro government, including defense minister Walter Braga Netto, who was also his vice-presidential candidate in 2022. The general Augusto Heleno, former minister of the institutional security cabinet, who was considered the eminence grise of the ex-president, and Alexandre Ramagem, who was the head of the intelligence services under his mandate, were also targeted.

Tuesday, another police operation linked to this investigation resulted in the arrest of four soldiers and a police officer suspected of having fomented a plan to assassinate the champion of the left Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after his victory in the 2022 presidential election. One of the suspects arrested is reserve general Mario Fernandes, a close collaborator of Jair Bolsonaro during his mandate. The federal police also called for his indictment on Thursday, as well as that of three other people arrested two days earlier. Their plan, titled “Operation green and yellow dagger” (colors of the Brazilian flag), also planned to kill Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin and Judge Moraes.

At the time of the operation “The Time of Truth”investigators had reported a draft decree aimed at calling new elections and arresting Judge Moraes, who presided over the Superior Electoral Court during the 2022 presidential election. This decree would have been presented by Mr. Bolsonaro to high-ranking military personnel during meetings in December 2022, between his electoral defeat in the second round of October 30, 2022 and the inauguration of Lula on October 1^is January 2023.

The decree ultimately did not see the light of day, but Brazilian institutions were shaken on January 8, 2023: a week after Lula's inauguration, thousands of Bolsonarist sympathizers ransacked places of power in Brasilia. Mr. Bolsonaro, who was in the United States that day, is also the subject of an investigation to determine whether he played the role of instigator of these riots.