Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro should stand trial on charges related to an alleged plot to overturn the 2022 election results, the country’s Supreme Court has determined.
Bolsonaro was among 34 people charged last month with five crimes, including attempting a coup d’état. Part of the coup plot, prosecutors allege, involved a plan to potentially assassinate elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his vice president and a minister of the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing.
The court on Wednesday decided in a simple majority vote to accept charges against eight of the accused, including Bolsonaro, his vice presidential candidate and other military and political leaders. The vote will be final when all judges have cast their votes.
The court will decide the fates of the other 26 people later on.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet argued before the court on Tuesday that there was enough evidence to move the case to a trial. He claimed that the accused had formed a criminal organization to “generate reactions that would guarantee their continuity in power,” regardless of the result of the 2022 election.
“They all accepted, encouraged and carried out acts that are classified in criminal legislation as an attack against the existence and independence of the Powers and the Democratic State of Law,” he told the court.
Gonet alleged that the coup attempt began in 2021, during Bolsonaro’s presidential term, and culminated in the riots of January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalized the three seats of government in Brasilia to reject the 2022 election results.
The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. His lawyer Celso Vilardi argued that there is no evidence his client was involved in the Brasilia riots.
Bolsonaro, who attended Tuesday’s court session, had told reporters earlier that he expected justice in the case.
“I’m fine. We always expect justice. Nothing is substantiated in the accusations made in a biased manner by the Federal Police,” he said.
He also compared the case to a rigged soccer match, posting on X, “In my case, the referee whistles against the game before the game even starts… and it’s also the VAR (video assistant referee), the linesman, the coach and the opposing team’s top scorer; all in one person.”
Alleged coup plot
Prosecutors say the alleged coup plot began in 2021 with an effort to undermine public trust in electronic voting machines.
In 2022, Bolsonaro met with ambassadors and diplomatic representatives to discuss the accusations of voting fraud, in what the Attorney General’s Office said was “an attempt to prepare the international community for disrespecting the popular will in the presidential elections.”
Despite finding no evidence of election fraud, the defendants allegedly continued their campaign to discredit the electoral system, according to prosecutors.
They also allege that Bolsonaro approved a plan to carry out the coup, and that the last attempt to overturn the election happened during the riots of January 8, 2023, which prosecutors claim were encouraged by the defendants.
In 2023, Bolsonaro was banned from public office for eight years after a separate investigation into alleged abuse of power found him guilty of spreading misinformation about the integrity of the Brazilian election apparatus to foreign governments.