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 election, according to a Federal Police report unsealed on Tuesday.
Federal Police last Thursday formally accused Mr Bolsonaro and 36 other people of attempting a coup. They sent their 884-page report to the Supreme Court, which lifted the seal.
The unsealed document provides a first glimpse of several testimonies that describe the former president as one of the key leaders of the plot.
“The evidence collected throughout the investigation shows unequivocally that then president Jair Messias Bolsonaro planned, acted and was directly and effectively aware of the actions of the criminal organisation aiming to launch a coup d’etat and eliminate the democratic rule of law, which did not take place due to reasons unrelated to his desire,” the document said.
It also accused the former president of having “full awareness and active participation” in the plot against the newly elected Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva.
Mr Bolsonaro, who had repeatedly alleged without evidence that the country’s electronic voting system was prone to fraud, called a meeting in December 2022, during which he presented a draft decree to the commanders of the three divisions of the armed forces, according to the police report.
The decree would have launched an investigation into suspicions of fraud and crimes related to the October 2022 vote, and suspended the powers of the nation’s electoral court.
The navy’s commander stood ready to comply, but those from the army and air force objected to any plan that prevented Lula’s inauguration, the report said. Those refusals are why the plan did not go ahead, according to witnesses who spoke to investigators.
Mr Bolsonaro never signed the decree to set the final stage of the alleged plan into action.
Federal police say that the former president and his allies at first expected to launch the coup d’etat on December 15 2022.
The document also said that top military personnel who stood in the way became targets of online attacks by a pro-Bolsonaro digital militia group.
Mr Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or awareness of any plot to keep him in power or oust Lula.
He told journalists on Monday: “What is being said is absurd. For my part, there has never been any discussion of a coup.”
The report has been passed to prosecutor-general Paulo Gonet who will decide whether to formally charge Mr Bolsonaro and put him on trial.
