Bolsonaro's final appeal to Moraes to try to save himself from the coup

Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) requested his acquittal on Wednesday the 13th in the trial over the attempted coup. He is accused of leading the conspiracy to prevent Lula (PT) from taking office after the 2022 election.

The former captain's defense submitted its closing arguments to the Supreme Federal Court. In a 38-page document, it claims there is no evidence that he acted to impede the transition of governments and that the actions of January 8, 2023, were unrelated to the former captain's orders.

"There was never any intention to prevent the inauguration of then-president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva," the document reads. "The former president, in fact, could easily have employed available means to continue the actions he is credited with, but he did not."

The defense maintains that the Attorney General's Office's complaint is not based on concrete evidence. The prosecution attributes five crimes to Bolsonaro: coup d'état, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damage, damage to a listed building, and armed criminal organization.

"The truth is that the PGR's accusations against the former president are not supported by either logic or the evidence in the case," said the lawyers, who also once again defended the annulment of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid's plea bargain.

"There is no way to convict Jair Bolsonaro based on the evidence presented in the case, which amply demonstrated that he ordered the transition, avoided the chaos with the truck drivers and assured his voters that the world would not end on December 31st, that the people would realize that the new government would not do the country any good."

With the presentation of the final allegations of the eight defendants from the crucial core of the coup plot, it will be up to Minister Alexandre de Moraes , rapporteur of the criminal action, to prepare his vote and release the case for trial in the First Chamber of the STF, which also includes Ministers Cristiano Zanin, Flávio Dino, Cármen Lúcia and Luiz Fux.

The accusation

The sentences for the crimes attributed to Bolsonaro by the PGR total 43 years in prison, but in Brazil the maximum time for effective serving of the sentence is 40 years.

The Federal Police concluded that the former president planned and exercised direct control over the actions of a criminal organization seeking to carry out a coup in Brazil in 2022.

Investigators believe the group, under Bolsonaro's leadership, created, developed, and disseminated misinformation about the electoral system since 2019, the first year of the previous administration, in order to instill in society the false impression of fraud at the polls.

The objective, according to the PF, was to build the basis for the acts that took place after Lula's victory in October 2022.

The Federal Police's final report mentions a meeting of Bolsonaro's administration leadership on July 5, 2022, 13 days before a meeting between the then-president and foreign ambassadors, in which he allegedly repeated lies about the electoral process. In 2023, the Superior Electoral Court declared Bolsonaro ineligible for election due to his meeting with the diplomats.

The participants of the July 5 meeting, investigators note, “exactly followed the methodology developed by the digital militia, propagating and disseminating allegations that were known to be untrue or without any concrete basis, of evidence of fraud and vote manipulation in the Brazilian elections, resulting from vulnerabilities in the electronic voting system.”

The aim was to hold the ministers accountable for spreading misinformation about the electoral system using government structures. Among the participants were Anderson Torres (Justice), Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira (Defense), Augusto Heleno (GSI), and Mário Fernandes (currently serving as Secretary-General).

The Federal Police also claims that pressure on then-Army commander General Freire Gomes was authorized by Bolsonaro. This conclusion stems from an analysis of files found on Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid's cell phone.

Subsequently, the group began carrying out “clandestine acts” aimed at abolishing the Democratic Rule of Law and, according to the Federal Police, Bolsonaro was “fully aware and actively participating”.

It is in this context that the famous decree appears, paving the way for an institutional rupture, aimed at preventing Lula from taking office, establishing a State of Defense within the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), and serving as a sort of legal basis for the coup. For the Federal Police, Bolsonaro "effectively planned, adjusted, and drafted a decree that foresaw the institutional rupture."

The Federal Police also says it has robust evidence to demonstrate that Bolsonaro was informed about the progress of the acts by Mauro Cid.

“The evidence collected, such as records of visitors entering and leaving the Alvorada Palace, the content of conversations between interlocutors in his inner circle, analysis of ERBs, dates and locations of meetings, indicate that JAIR BOLSONARO had full knowledge of the operational planning (Green and Yellow Dagger), as well as the clandestine actions carried out under the codename 2022 World Cup.”

This point is closely related to Operation Countergolpe , launched by the PF in November 2024. On that occasion, the force arrested four Army officers linked to the special forces, the so-called "black kids": General Mário Fernandes, Lieutenant Colonel Helio Ferreira Lima, Major Rodrigo Bezerra Azevedo, and Major Rafael Martins de Oliveira. Another person arrested was federal police officer Wladimir Matos Soares.

The arrested military officers planned to create a "crisis cabinet" after executing then-president-elect Lula, his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and Alexandre de Moraes. The group's command would fall to the then-minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet, retired general Augusto Heleno, and Braga Netto.

Police accessed messages from a group chat created on the Signal app called "World Cup 2022," intended to monitor Moraes. The officers involved were given codenames for countries such as Germany, Austria, Japan, and Ghana.

The Federal Police report also indicates that Bolsonaro edited the text of the document known asthe "coup minutes," the decree that would have consummated the coup. On December 7, 2022, according to investigators, the then-president made adjustments to the document and summoned the commanders of the Armed Forces to a meeting at the Alvorada Palace.

At that meeting, Bolsonaro would have the objective of “presenting the document and pressuring the Armed Forces to adhere to the plan to abolish the Democratic Rule of Law.”

"The Army and Air Force commanders were against any plan that would prevent the legitimately elected government from taking office. The Navy commander, Admiral Garnier, made himself available to carry out the orders," the police concluded.

Two days later, on December 9, Bolsonaro broke his silence following Lula's defeat and spoke to supporters in front of the Alvorada Palace. On that occasion, he encouraged the pro-coup protests held after the election and mentioned the military.

"Nothing is lost. The only end is death. You decide my future, where I'm going. You decide where the Armed Forces are going," the former captain declared.

The PF assesses that the speech “followed the narrative of the criminal organization, in the sense of maintaining the hope of the protesters that the then president, together with the Armed Forces, would take action to reverse the result of the presidential elections, a fact that was effectively underway at that time”.

Read the Federal Police's conclusion about Bolsonaro's role in the conspiracy:

“The data described corroborate the entire evidentiary framework, demonstrating that the then President of the Republic JAIR BOLSONARO effectively planned, directed and executed , in a coordinated manner with the other members of the group since [at least] the year 2019, concrete acts that aimed to abolish the Democratic State of Law, with his permanence in the office of President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, a fact that was not consummated due to circumstances beyond his control, among which, the resistance of the commanders of the Air Force, Lieutenant-Brigadier BAPTISTA JUNIOR, and of the Army, General FREIRE GOMES and of the majority of the High Command who remained faithful to the defense of the Democratic State of Law, not providing armed support for the then President of the Republic to consummate the coup d'état stands out”.