**MEXICO CITY**
Brazil’s Supreme Court held its first hearing Tuesday to decide whether former President Jair Bolsonaro and some of his aides should be tried for allegedly attempting a coup following his 2022 election defeat.
If accepted, Bolsonaro and seven others would stand trial for allegedly running a conspiracy to overthrow the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The first chamber of the Supreme Court reviewed accusations brought by the Prosecutor's Office against the “crucial nucleus” of conspirators.
The “nucleus” consists of Bolsonaro and seven others among the 33 current suspects. The defendants include Walter Braga Netto, an army general who served as Bolsonaro's defense minister, and Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro’s personal aide.
All of them have been accused of forming an armed criminal organization, attempting to violently abolish the democratic rule of law, committing a coup d'état, causing damage with violence, and making serious threats against public property.
The complaint, filed in February this year against Bolsonaro and his collaborators, accuses the former president of leading a plan to reverse the results of the 2022 presidential election, which Lula won.
According to arguments presented Tuesday by Prosecutor Paulo Gonet, Bolsonaro is the mastermind behind the coup attempt, which he claims was conceived as early as July 2021 and executed through ongoing violence orchestrated by Bolsonaro, including attacks on government buildings on Jan. 8, 2023 by his supporters.
Bolsonaro’s defense, represented by attorney Celso Vilardi, argued that there was no conclusive evidence to determine the former president as the intellectual author of the coup or as the instigator of the violent attacks on Jan. 8.
Vilardi did not deny the existence of a plot against Lula but contended that Bolsonaro was unaware of it, saying the prosecution has not produced documents proving the former president’s knowledge of the coup.
The defense also emphasized that it had not been granted access to the Prosecution's files, which allegedly contain evidence of Bolsonaro’s criminal involvement. They argued that the Federal Police had selectively chosen fragments of conversations that supposedly implicate Bolsonaro in the plot.
A decision on whether the eight will be formally charged is expected on Wednesday.
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