Brazil ex-President Jair Bolsonaro indicted over alleged knowledge of coup plot
CNN
Federal police accused Bolsonaro of “full knowledge” of a 2022 plot to kill his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and overturn the results of the presidential election.
Brazilian authorities have indicted ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, accusing him of “full knowledge” of a 2022 plot to kill his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and overturn the results of the presidential election. On Thursday, Brazil’s federal police indicted 37 individuals including Bolsonaro, as part of the investigation into the fallout of the 2022 presidential elections, in which Bolsonaro’s bid for reelection was defeated, CNN Brasil reports. Police reportedly allege that Bolsonaro had “full knowledge” of a plan to prevent Lula and his government from taking office after his election victory. Earlier this week, Brazilian police arrested five people, including a former adviser to Bolsonaro, over the alleged plots. The coup plotters also envisaged the assassination of Lula’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court said in its arrest order. The order, signed by Moraes on Sunday, authorized the preventative detention of the five suspects, including retired general Mário Fernandes – the second-highest ranking executive of the General Secretariat of the Presidency during Bolsonaro’s administration, per CNN Brasil. In October 2022, Lula narrowly beat Bolsonaro in the presidential election. Bolsonaro’s supporters rejected the results and rioted in the capital Brasilia, storming government buildings on January 8, 2023. According to the police warrant carried out on Tuesday, Bolsonaro allegedly met with officials from the army and navy as well as the minister of defense in December 2022 to present a document detailing the legal framework that would keep him in power.
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