Brazil police say former president Jair Bolsonaro was directly involved in coup plot

Brazil’s federal police have presented evidence to the Supreme Court that former president Jair Bolsonaro was directly involved in plotting a coup to overturn the outcome of the 2022 election he lost.

According to a final 884-page report unsealed on Tuesday - the result of a nearly two-year investigation - evidence gathered from search warrants, wire taps, financial records and plea bargain testimony point to a criminal conspiracy with Bolsonaro at the helm.

“Bolsonaro effectively planned, directed and executed, in coordination with other officials since at least 2019, concrete acts that aimed at the abolition of the democratic rule of law, with him remaining as president,” the report said.

Police also found that Bolsonaro had “full knowledge” of a plan to assassinate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, then president-elect, and his running mate, based on dialogue captured between conspirators and meetings at the presidential residence.

The report cites eight main pieces of evidence to back up the formal accusation against Bolsonaro in the alleged coup attempt, including a meeting he called in December 2022 with top commanders of the armed forces, presenting them with a proposed coup d’état and asking them to join the conspiracy.

The army and air force commanders refused, according to police, while the navy commander, now retired Admiral Almir Garnier Santos, expressed support, according to investigators.

Garnier Santos was one of the 37 people, most retired and some active duty military officers, including Bolsonaro whom police formally accused last week of a role in the planned coup. The country’s prosecutor general, Paulo Gonet, will now decide whether to press charges against Bolsonaro and his alleged co-conspirators.

Bolsonaro, who was formally accused for the attempted coup, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and criminal organisation, has denied committing any crime.

On Monday, he told journalists in Brasilia that he had never discussed a coup. His lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comments on the full report on Tuesday.

A representative for Garnier did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday lifted the seal on the police report regarding the alleged coup plot.

Bolsonaro’s Defence Minister, now retired General Walter Braga Netto, also played an important role in planning the alleged coup, the police investigation found.

Not only did he encourage Bolsonaro’s allies to attack the armed forces commanders on social media for not joining the coup plot, he held a meeting at his house where the assassination of Lula and his Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin was discussed and approved, the report said.

Braga Netto, who was Bolsonaro’s running mate in the 2022 election, has denied this. “It was never a coup, much less a plan to murder someone,” he said in a social media post following last week official accusation.

Bolsonaro never recognised his defeat by Lula, who was sworn in as president on January 1, 2023.

The formal police accusations against Bolsonaro are a fresh blow to his plan to run for president in 2026. US President-elect Donald Trump’s recent victory had buoyed Bolsonaro allies trying to overturn a court decision that has blocked him from public office for attacking the legitimacy of the 2022 vote.

Federal police finished two separate criminal probes of Bolsonaro and his associates earlier this year formally accusing them of tampering with COVID-19 vaccination cards while in office and of embezzling jewellery gifted by the Saudi government.

Reuters reported last week, citing sources, that Gonet is planning to merge the three investigations into Bolsonaro’s actions against Brazil’s democratic system and produce one single global indictment against him.

Because of that, Brazil’s top public prosecutor is not likely to issue any indictments until next year for Bolsonaro, members of his government and military officers who allegedly planned the coup, they said.