Former President Bolsonaro’s coup trial opens in Brazil

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is set to stand trial on charges that he plotted a coup d’etat and organized a “criminal organization” to overturn the outcome of his election in October of 2022, which he narrowly lost to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Over the following two weeks, the nation’s Supreme Court is scheduled to hear testimony from prominent military and political figures.

Former army captain, who ruled Brazil from 2019 to 2022, could face up to 40 years in prison if found guilty.

Bolsonaro refutes the accusations, claiming that he was the victim of “political persecution.”

Generals Marco Antonio Freire Gomes and Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior, who served as Bolsonaro’s army and air force commanders, are scheduled to give videoconference testimony to over 80 witnesses.

Both men claimed that Bolsonaro had “raised the hypothetical possibility” of using legal means to rig the 2022 election and justify military intervention in prior statements to federal police.

The alleged plot included plans to declare a state of emergency, hold new elections, and assassinate President Lula, according to the prosecution.

The scheme, which prosecutors claim ultimately failed due to lack of support within the military, is described in a 900-page federal police report.

The charges also cover the riots that occurred on January 8, 2023 in Brasil, where thousands of Bolsonaro supporters threw the Supreme Court, Congress, and the presidential palace.

Although Bolsonaro, a close ally of Donald Trump when they were both in power, was present in the US at the time, prosecutors claim he supported the violence, calling it the “last hope” of those seeking to overturn the election.

Four former ministers, a former navy commander, and the head of Brazil’s intelligence services are all facing charges alongside him in his presidency.

Since the military dictatorship’s end in 1985, this Brazilian president has been charged with coup.

After making allegations about Brazil’s electronic voting system, Bolsonaro, who has frequently praised that time, is already prohibited from running for office until 2030.

Bolsonaro has expressed a desire to return to politics despite the ban. However, he warned that a conviction would result in a “death penalty, political and physical,” as he compared the allegations to a “telenovela scenario” in a letter to UOL last week.

Bolsonaro’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his policies and spread of misinformation led to Brazil experiencing the highest overall death toll in Latin America and the second highest death toll in the world after the US from the coronavirus. He was subject to harsh criticism when he was Brazil’s leader.