By Eleonore Hughes and Mauricion Savarese | Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s prosecutor-general said Tuesday that former leader Jair Bolsonaro knew and agreed to a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as part of an attempt coup to remain in power.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet formally charged Bolsonaro for attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat. He said that the plan also aimed at shooting dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.
“The members of the criminal organization structured at the presidential palace a plan to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of ‘Green and Yellow Dagger,’” Gonet said in the report. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s prosecutor-general on Tuesday filed charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in plan to remain in power despite losing to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Last November, Federal Police filed a 884-page report with Gonet detailing the scheme. They allege it involved systematically sowing distrust of the electoral system among the populace, drafting a decree to give the plot a veneer of legality, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan, and inciting a riot in the capital.
The Supreme Court will analyze the charges and, if accepted, Bolsonaro will stand trial.
The far-right leader denies wrongdoing. “I have no concerns about the accusations, zero,” Bolsonaro told journalists earlier on Tuesday during a visit to the Senate in Brasilia.
“Have you seen the coup decree, by any chance? You haven’t. Neither have I,” he added.
A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As well as participating in a coup d’état, the 34 defendants are accused of participating in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage qualified by violence and serious threat against the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage, according to a statement from the Prosecutor General’s press office.
“The organization was led by the then president of the Republic and his candidate for vice president. Together with other people, including civilians and military personnel, they tried to prevent the results of the 2022 presidential elections from being implemented,” the statement said.
Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
