Brazilian police have charged Bolsonaro for allegedly attempting a coup, threatening his political career

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro | Photo Credit: AP

Police indicted former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others for allegedly attempting a coup to keep the right-wing leader in power after losing the 2022 election. Having been banned from running again in 2026 for a different case, he could now go to prison and see his influence diminish.

Brazil’s federal police said the findings sealed in the indictment on Thursday were sent to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which will refer it to Attorney General Paulo Gonet, who will decide whether to formally indict Bolsonaro and put him on trial, or throw out the investigation.

Gonet has been under pressure from his legal colleagues to move forward with various investigations related to the former president, local media reported. And politicians say that if Bolsonaro is on trial at the Supreme Court, there will be a race between allies and rivals to regain influence with voters.

“Bolsonaro is not the only right-wing leader. He came out of the mayoral election in which many candidates lost. All these investigations did not help him,” said Carlos Melo, professor of political science at the Insper university in Sao Paulo.

Melo added that “the governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcisio de Freitas, the radical candidate for the mayor of Sao Paulo Pablo Marcal, the governor of the state of Goias, Ronaldo Caiado … There are politicians who are in line for the electoral court of Bolsonaro.”

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

The former president denied all claims he was trying to stay in office after a narrow electoral defeat in 2022 to leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has faced numerous legal threats since then.

Police said in a brief statement that the Supreme Court had agreed to reveal the names of all 37 accused “to avoid spreading false news.”

Dozens of Bolsonaro’s former and current assistants are also indicted, including General Walter Braga Netto, who is his partner in the 2022 campaign; former Army Commander General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; Valdemar Costa Neto, chairman of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party; and former veteran adviser, General Augusto Heleno.

Another investigation led to indictments for Bolsonaro’s alleged role in smuggling diamond jewelry into Brazil without properly declaring it and directing subordinates to lie about their COVID-19 vaccination status and more. Bolsonaro has denied any involvement.

Another investigation found that he had abused his authority to cast doubt on the country’s voting system, and a judge banned him from running again until 2030.

However, he has confirmed that he will run in 2026, and many in his orbit are rejoicing over the recent election victory of Donald Trump in the US, despite swirling legal threats.

Creomar de Souza, a political analyst at Political Risk and Dharma Strategy, said the indictment was “obviously bad” for Bolsonaro, but added that the right-wing leader could still continue his bid to run again sooner than allowed. He is barred from running in the 2026 elections.

“The idea of ​​a legal course because it is one that is struggling in the political arena today. This can give those who are targeted a chance to describe themselves as persecuted,” de Souza told AP. “We cannot deny that the tension of this kind of indictment may be more favorable to Bolsonaro.”

The indictment on the alleged coup attempt means the investigation has gathered evidence of “the crime and its authors,” said Eloísa Machado de Almeida, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Sao Paulo. grounds for the public prosecutor to file charges.

Bolsonaro’s allies in Congress have negotiated a bill to pardon the individuals who stormed the Brazilian capital and rioted on January 8, 2023, in a failed attempt to keep the former president. Analysts have speculated that lawmakers may want to extend the law to cover the former president.

However, efforts to push through a broad amnesty bill could be “politically challenging” given recent attacks on the judiciary and details emerging in the investigation, Machado said.

On Tuesday, the Federal Police arrested four military and Federal Police officials, accused of plotting to kill Lula and Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes as a means to overthrow the government after the 2022 elections.

And last week, someone carried out a bomb attack in the capital city of Brasilia. He tried to enter the Supreme Court and threw explosives outside, killing himself.