Brazilian police charge former President Bolsonaro and his aides over alleged coup attempt in 2022

SAO PAULO — of brazil Federal police said Thursday they have charged former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 more people were arrested for allegedly attempting a coup to keep him in office following his defeat in the 2022 elections.

Police said their sealed findings will be handed over to Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday, which will refer them to Attorney General Paulo Gonet, who will decide to either formally indict and prosecute Bolsonaro or cancel the investigation.

Bolsonaro told the Metropoles website that he was waiting for his lawyer to review the indictment, which is allegedly about 700 pages long. But he said he would fight the case and dismissed the investigation as the result of “creativity”.

The former right-wing president denies all allegations that he is trying to stay in office his narrow election defeat His opponent in 2022 is leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has since faced a series of legal threats.

The High Court agreed to release the names of all 37 people charged “to prevent the spread of false news”, police said in a brief statement.

Dozens of former and current Bolsonaro aides have also been indicted; among them is General Walter Braga Netto, his running mate in the 2022 campaign; former Army commander General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; Valdemar Costa Neto, head of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party; and his senior former advisor, General Augusto Heleno.

Other investigations into Bolsonaro diamond jewelry smuggling to Brazil without properly declaring themselves and directing a subordinate to falsify his and others’ COVID-19 vaccination status. Bolsonaro has denied involvement in either.

Another study found that he had abused his authority To cast doubt on the country’s voting system, judges banned him from running again until 2030.

Still, he insisted he would run in 2026, and many in his orbit were encouraged by Donald Trump winning the last US election despite his own swirling legal threats.

But Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo, said the wide-ranging investigations had already undermined Bolsonaro’s status as the leader of Brazil’s right wing.

“Bolsonaro is already banned from running in the 2026 elections,” Melo told the Associated Press. “And if he’s found guilty, he could be in jail by then. To avoid remaining behind bars, he will have to convince Supreme Court justices that he had nothing to do with a conspiracy involving dozens of his associates. That’s a tall order,” Melo said.

Eloísa Machado de Almeida, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Sao Paulo, said the indictment for the alleged coup attempt meant the investigation had picked up indications that he was “the author of a crime and a crime.” He said he believed there was sufficient legal evidence. The attorney general’s reason for filing a criminal complaint.

Bolsonaro’s allies in Congress are negotiating a bill to pardon people who stormed Brazil’s capital and rioted on Jan. 8, 2023, to keep the former president in power. Analysts have suggested that lawmakers want to expand the law to include the former president.

But Machado said efforts to introduce a broad amnesty bill could be “politically challenging” given recent attacks on the judiciary and details revealed in investigations.

On Tuesday, the Federal Police arrested four soldiers and one Federal Police officer. charged with conspiracy Assassinating Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a way to overthrow the government after the 2022 elections.

And last week A man carried out a bomb attack in the capital of Brazil. He tried to enter the Supreme Court and killed himself by throwing explosives outside.