Former Brazilian president Bolsonaro plotting coup: Police report | Jair Bolsonaro News

Brazilian police have published a report implicating former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro in an alleged criminal organization designed to overthrow the 2022 presidential election, which was won by his leftist rival and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The 884-page report, made public on Tuesday, revealed eight key pieces of evidence against Bolsonaro, including a meeting he allegedly took with members of the Brazilian military to plan a coup.

“The evidence collected throughout this investigation unequivocally shows that the then President Jair Messias Bolsonaro planned, carried out and knew directly and effectively the actions of a criminal organization that aims to bring down the state and end the democratic rule,” the report explained.

Before he was released, the report was sent by Brazil's chief prosecutor, Paulo Gonet, who has not yet decided whether to indict Bolsonaro.

The report expands on allegations that Bolsonaro and 36 others conspired to retain power, even if they lose the election.

Among the officials mentioned are former Minister of Defense Walter Braga Netto, former National Security adviser Augusto Heleno, former Minister of Justice and Public Security Anderson Torres and the head of Bolsonaro's Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto.

The police allegations are the latest in a series of investigations and legal woes for Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022.

Bolsonaro has denied all allegations that he tried to stay in office after his defeat in the October 2022 election.

But already, his baseless claims about the accuracy of the election have made Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) bar him from running for office again until 2030.

An intense election

Ahead of the 2022 election, Bolsonaro made false and unsubstantiated campaign claims that Brazil's voting machines could not be trusted, setting the stage for a disputed election months before the first vote was cast.

The race ended with Lula coming out ahead with a little over 2.1 million votes. Experts called it the closest race since Brazil's return to democracy in the 1980s.

But Bolsonaro refused to concede defeat publicly, and his supporters took to the streets in protest. They blocked highways, attacked the police headquarters in the capital of Brasilia, and were even involved in threatening the incoming president with a bomb.

The tension started on January 8, 2023, a week after Lula was sworn into office.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters descended on the Three Powers Plaza, a square in Brasilia that houses the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and both houses of Congress.

They broke into government buildings, looted and destroyed property in the hope of removing the “military intervention” that would remove Lula from power.

Bolsonaro's critics have long questioned his role in the events, although Bolsonaro has denied taking part.

Leaked recordings

But leaked audio recordings suggest that senior members of the Brazilian Army were involved in the formation of a plot to keep Bolsonaro in power.

On Monday, the Associated Press obtained the recordings, which date from the weeks before Lula's inauguration in late 2022.

In the 53 recordings, some military officials are heard expressing their desire to prevent Lula from taking power.

Other recordings include Colonel Roberto Raimundo Criscuoli, a former special forces commander. He tells retired Brigadier General Mario Fernandes – at the time the second in command of the General Secretary of the Presidency – that Bolsonaro had a clear decision on how he would respond to the election.

“It will be a civil war now or a civil war later. Now we have a reason for civil war. People on the street. We have a lot of support,” said Criscuoli.

“Let's do this now. Talk to 01,” he said using the Brazilian presidential code.

Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the ongoing police investigation into Bolsonaro, cited some of the recordings in last week's ruling ordering the arrest of five people for plotting to kill then-President Lula in late 2022.

Last week, Bolsonaro told Brazilian news website Metropoles that the police allegations were the result of “artifice”, not fact. He added that his lawyers are looking into the matter and will fight the allegations.