Brazilian Bolsonaro planned and attended the 2022 conference…

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was fully aware of and actively participated in a coup plot to remain in office After his defeat in the 2022 electionsAccording to the Federal Police report, which was sealed on Tuesday.

Last Thursday, the Federal Police officially charged Bolsonaro and 36 others with attempting a coup. They sent their 884-page report to the Supreme Court, which lifted the seal.

“The evidence collected throughout the investigation clearly shows that then-President Jair Messias Bolsonaro planned, took action and was directly and effectively aware of the actions of the criminal organization that aimed to launch a coup and undermine the democratic rule of law. The document stated that it did not happen for reasons unrelated to his request.

At another point it is said: “Bolsonaro had full awareness and active participation.”

Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the country’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud, held a meeting in December 2022 during which he presented a draft decree to the commanders of three divisions of the armed forces, according to the police report. , signed by four researchers. The decree would launch an investigation into suspicions of fraud and crime related to the October 2022 elections and suspend the powers of the national electoral court.

The report said the navy commander was ready to comply, but those from the army and air force objected to any plan to prevent Lula from taking office. According to eyewitnesses who spoke to investigators, these rejections are the reason why the plan did not come true.

Bolsonaro never signed the decree implementing the final phase of the alleged plan.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of any plot to keep him in power or to oust his leftist rival and successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“No one stages a coup with a reserve general and half a dozen other officers. What is said is nonsense. From my perspective, there was never any discussion of a coup,” Bolsonaro told reporters in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, on Monday.

“If someone came to discuss the coup with me, I would say no problem, but how does the world see us the next day?” he added. “The word coup has never been in my dictionary.”

The high court forwarded the report to Attorney General Paulo Gonet. He will decide whether to formally indict and prosecute Bolsonaro or cancel the investigation.

Ahead of the 2022 elections, Bolsonaro has repeatedly claimed that the electoral system, which does not use paper ballots, could be tampered with. The supreme electoral court later ruled that he had abused his authority to cast unfounded doubt on the voting system and ruled that he was ineligible to vote. In office until 2030.

Still, he claimed he would run in the 2026 race.

Since leaving office, Bolsonaro has been the target of several investigations, all of which he has attributed to political persecution. Federal Police charged him Smuggling diamond jewelry to Brazil without properly declaring these and directing a subordinate Falsifying one’s own and others’ COVID-19 vaccination status.

Authorities are also investigating whether it was him. Incited the January 8, 2022 riot His followers ransacked the Supreme Court and the presidential palace in Brasilia in an attempt to hasten the military’s intervention to remove Lula from power.

Bolsonaro had traveled to the United States days before Lula took office on January 1, 2023, and remained there for three months without attracting attention. The police report released Tuesday alleges that he was trying to avoid a possible prison sentence for the coup plot and was anticipating the uprising that would occur a week later.

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Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro