Moraes authorizes Kid Preto to attend theology college remotely from prison

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized Lieutenant Colonel Hélio Ferreira Lima, arrested in November 2024, to pursue a distance learning undergraduate theology degree. The officer is identified by the Attorney General's Office as one of those responsible for the coup plot to annul the 2022 elections and as part of the "Green-Yellow Dagger" plan, which called for the assassination of Lula, Alckmin, and Moraes.

The Prosecutor's Office included Hélio in nucleus 3 of the coup plot, the military nucleus.

Hélio is being held in pretrial detention at the 7th Army Police Battalion in Manaus. In a petition to the minister, his defense also requested that videoconference visits be authorized for family, friends, and a pastor, in order to "preserve his family and social ties, which are essential for his mental health."

Moraes authorized the visits and the undergraduate course in Theology, since the classes are held in the Distance Learning (EAD) modality.

'Enough, brother'

According to the PGR, the lieutenant colonel was part of a group of black military kids – special forces – who were involved in monitoring and who intended to 'neutralize' authorities in Brasília.

In messages exchanged with whistleblower Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp to former President Jair Bolsonaro, Hélio questioned the electoral process and incited a process of rupture.

"I know they tried to carry it through without breaking the institutional framework, but it was all illegal on their side. Enough, brother!" he once complained.

The investigations found, along with the military officer, the outline of Operation Luneta, which outlined the stages of a coup to keep Bolsonaro in power.

The PGR claims that Hélio Ferreira Lima and Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Martins de Oliveira monitored Moraes' movements during the second round of the elections.

A member of the Army's Special Forces, an elite group known as the 'black kids', was preventively arrested during Operation Countergolpe.

"In his plea bargain, Mauro Cid confirmed the monitoring of Minister Alexandre de Moraes. He stated that, initially, the requests came from Rafael Martins de Oliveira and Hélio Ferreira Lima, precisely the defendants who were leading Operation 'World Cup 2022,' aimed at 'neutralizing' the minister," the Prosecutor's Office said.

WITH THE WORD, THE DEFENSE

Helio Ferreira Lima has not yet been questioned by the Supreme Federal Court. His defense has already stated that the alleged coup plot was not a plan, but a "theoretical exercise in situation analysis."

“The accusation made by the prosecution represents a serious distortion of reality and a failed attempt to transform an academic and prospective study into a subversive plan,” the defense alleges.