Brazil police accuse ex-President Bolsonaro of involvement in coup attempt
Al Jazeera
Police accuse Jair Bolsonaro and several former officials of involvement in plot after 2022 election defeat.
Brazil’s Federal Police have formally accused former President Jair Bolsonaro and several of his former ministers of being involved in an attempted coup after the far-right leader lost an election in 2022.
Police said in a statement on Thursday that Bolsonaro and 36 other people had planned the “violent overthrow of the democratic state”.
Several Bolsonaro administration officials were accused of involvement, including former Defence Minister Walter Braga Netto, ex-National Security Adviser Augusto Heleno, former Justice Minister Anderson Torres and the head of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto.
The police findings were to be delivered to the Supreme Court to be referred to Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet, who will either agree with the charges and put the former president on trial or toss out the investigation.
The case centres around an alleged conspiracy after Bolsonaro’s narrow defeat to his left-wing rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the 2022 presidential election.
