Jair Bolsonaro, still president, during the celebration for Independence Day in September 2022. Photo: Antonio Cruz/Agência Brasil. Fair use
A coup plot was in the works for over a year in Brazil. It began with casting doubts about the electoral system and inciting the public against it, and included a violent plan to kill and arrest political adversaries and a Supreme Court judge. Those were elements identified in messages, digital archives and testimonies that led to Brazil's Attorney General's Office charging former president Jair Bolsonaro and 33 other people for attempting to disrupt the country's democratic system following their defeat in the 2022 elections.
The 272-page document was presented to the Supreme Court this February 18, more than two years after Bolsonaro's supporters broke into and vandalized public buildings in Brasília, the country's capital, questioning Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's win.
Among the 34 charged, 24 are military, including the former president. An important detail for a country that endured 21 years of military dictatorship installed through a coup d'état and that never put anyone on trial for state terrorism crimes.
Bolsonaro is already ineligible for public office for the next eight years. Still, the charges presented now could get him put in prison if he is found guilty of crimes such as attempted coup d'état and the abolishment of the rule of law. The attorney general stated:
A responsabilidade pelos atos lesivos à ordem democrática recai sobre organização criminosa liderada por JAIR MESSIAS BOLSONARO, baseada em projeto autoritário de poder. Enraizada na própria estrutura do Estado e com forte influência de setores militares, a organização se desenvolveu em ordem hierárquica e com divisão das tarefas preponderantes entre seus integrantes.
The responsibility for the harmful acts to the democratic order falls over the criminal organization led by JAIR MESSIAS BOLSONARO, based on an authoritarian power project. Rooted within the State structure itself and with a strong influence amid military sectors, the organization developed itself in an hierarchical order and with a task division among its members.
His defense team said they received the news with ”shock and indignation” and denied all charges.
Pro-coup and pro-Bolsonaro protesters vandalized public buildings on January 8, 2023. Photo: Joedson Alves/Agência Brasil. Fair use
The narratives adopted by Bolsonaro and his allies over what happened on January 8, 2023, sometimes claimed that the people arrested for the attacks were peaceful elderly citizens, holding the Bible, and sometimes pointed a leftist scheme to frame him.
According to the charges, this was the final stage of a plot that began in 2021. At that time, then-President Bolsonaro started casting doubts on the electoral system and threatened to disrupt legal institutions. His rhetoric escalated after a ruling that allowed Lula, a favorite by the polls, to run for the presidency again.
Without ever presenting any evidence, the then-president started to affirm that the electronic ballot system used in Brazil for over 20 years, through which he himself had been elected for Congress several times and as president, wasn't trustworthy. Before the beginning of the electoral period in July 2022, Bolsonaro invited foreign ambassadors to the presidential building to showcase this narrative, still without presenting any proof of fraud, in an attempt to discredit the system among the public opinion, according to the Attorney General.
After Lula won the elections, bolsonaristas camped in front of military units and by roads in several regions to protest the result. Following the latest charges, the weekly TV show Fantastico had access to audio messages exchanged between people in Bolsonaro's government and protestors, and reported:
Militares de alta patente mantinham canal aberto e contato direto com manifestantes. (…) Para a Polícia Federal, os áudios mostram que a estratégia do grupo era manter as manifestações nas ruas e a contestação das urnas eletrônicas.
High ranking military kept an open channel and direct connection with protestors. (…) To the Federal Police, the audios show that the group's strategy was to keep the protests in the streets and the objection to the electronic ballots.
While people inside the government tried to convince commanders of the army and the air force to join the plot, according to the Attorney General, there was a discussion for a plan called ”Green and Yellow Dagger.” Triggering a more violent phase of the plot, the plan included assassinating Lula and Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who was also then the president of the Electoral Court.
Without the support expected from some military commanders, Bolsonaro left for the United States on the eve of the inauguration to avoid passing the presidential sash to Lula. The attorney general found, however, that he even had a post-coup speech prepared.
Bolsonaro's supporters wait to see him while visiting his party's headquarters in 2023. Photo: Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/Agência Brasil. Fair use
For most of Bolsonaro's supporters, the charges confirming whathas been reported by the press for over a yearwasn't a surprise but rather the continuation of a set-up against their leader. On social media, his allies and base tried to discredit the investigation methods.
The former president himself posted on X (Twitter) that the charges are a way of turning the focus from the financial issues the current government faces. His defense refutes the facts narrated by Mauro Cid, hisformer aide turned informer, and plans toask for their annulment in court.
Bolsonaristas also tried to push a story about Cid being coerced and ”tortured” to accuse his former boss and others. Two days after the latest charges were presented, however,Justice Moraes released videos showing Cid's emotional and physical state during his hearings, including a moment when the judge warns Cid he risks losing his deal as an informer if he doesn't tell the truth.
Flávio, Bolsonaro's eldest son and a senator, states that his father is a victim of political persecution. Another son, Eduardo, a congressman in the Lower Chamber, tried to sell, at a conservative summit in the United States, the idea that Bolsonaro wasn't in Brazil when the attacks of January 8 took place; therefore, he couldn't be responsible for it. A third Bolsonaro offspring, Carlos, a city councilor in Rio for the past 25 years, pointed by Cid as the one in charge of the ”hate cabinet” behind online attacks, said Brazil is no longer a democracy.
The former president mocked the charges during an event of his Liberal Party, PL, saying ‘‘he doesn't give a shit about prison.” A change of tone since September 2022, when, while in campaign, he said he'd rather ”die fighting than surviving in jail.”
He also gave a two-hour interview to a gossip columnist's YouTube channel trying to tell his side of events, casting doubts on the investigations and trying to put January 8 as a leftist scheme against him, but struggled to explain why he didn't ask the people protesting the elections to go home and be clear that there would be a succession to his government.
Protestors echo a movement in Brazil demanding no amnesty for the coup attempt. Photo: Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil. Fair use
Amid the vast body of evidence about the coup plot, Bolsonaro and his allies have been campaigning for amnesty for those charged for the attacks. Two years later, 898 people were held accountable for antidemocratic actions on that day.
Last year, Bolsonaro asked if President Lula didn't have a heart himself to pardon those involved. In an interview last November, he claimed the only way to pacify the country would be ”someone giving in,” which would mean Justice Moraes giving amnesty to those imprisoned for the attacks.
The opposition to Bolsonaro in the National Congress, on the other hand, is increasing their “no amnesty” calls, as are others in civil society.
Seguiremos na luta até que eles paguem por todos os crimes.#SemAnistia pic.twitter.com/8MpfvQxVIw
— Benedita da Silva (@dasilvabenedita) February 19, 2025
Workers Party parliamentarian Benedita da Silva with a poster reading ”no amnesty.” ”We'll keep on fighting until they pay for all the crimes”.
Two days after the charges were laid, Lula declared in a radio interview that Bolsonaro's demand for amnesty was ”proof that he's guilty.” The current president, who was himself investigated and arrested, also upheld the right to a fair defense in court for his predecessor and others charged.
The nextstep is a judgment over the charges at the Supreme Court. Five justices will analyze the document presented by the attorney general. It is scheduled to March 25.
In the meantime, Bolsonaro and his allies are mobilizing his supporters for pro-amnesty protests in March and April.