The Supreme Court of Brazil began the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro on charges of coup on Monday. The former far-right president is accused of plotting a coup d’etat and leading a “criminal organisation” to overturn the result of the October 2022 election. Bolsonaro was narrowly defeated by current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Over the next two weeks the Supreme Court will hear testimonies from high-ranking military officials and political figures that started on Monday.
If found guilty, Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022, could spend up to 40 years in prison. The 70-year-old former army captain has refuted the allegations claiming that he is a victim of “political persecution”.
Generals Marco Antonio Freire Gomes and Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior, who were commanders of Bolsonaro’s army and air force, are among more than 80 witnesses scheduled to appear by videoconference and testify in Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Both individuals claimed Bolsonaro had “raised the hypothetical possibility” of using legal measures to void the 2022 election and provide justification for a military intervention in earlier statements to the federal police.
Prosecutors said the accused plotted to kill President Lula, establish a state of emergency, and organise fresh elections.
The plan, which prosecutors claim finally failed because of a lack of support from within the military, is described in a 900-page federal police report.
The charges also include the riots in Brasília on Jan 8, 2023, when hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the presidential palace, the Supreme Court, and Congress a week after Lula was sworn in.
Though Bolsonaro, a close supporter of US President Donald Trump when they were both in power, was in the US at the time, prosecutors believe he endorsed the violence, calling it the “last hope” of those wanting to overturn the election.
Bolsonaro is being tried along with seven of his former aides, including the chief of Brazil’s intelligence services during his office, a former naval commander and four former ministries.
Since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, this is the first time a Brazilian president has been charged with a coup.
Bolsonaro, who has frequently praised the times, has already been banned from public office until 2030 for his remarks against Brazil’s electronic voting system.
He has expressed his desire to return to politics despite the ban. He compared the charges to a “telenovela scenario” and cautioned that a conviction would be a “death penalty, political and physical.” in an interview with UOL last week.
When Bolsonaro was president during the COVID-19 pandemic, he came under fire for his policies and misinformation, which led to the country suffering the highest number of deaths from the virus in Latin America and the second-highest number worldwide after the US.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro was discharged from the hospital earlier this month following a major abdominal surgery, the most recent in a series of operations related to a 2018 stabbing incident.