Brazil’s former President Bolsonaro charged over alleged coup including plan to poison Lula

Brazil's former President Bolsonaro charged with coup attempt, poisoning plot, and murder plan after 2022 election defeat.

Brazil’s prosecutor-general on Tuesday (February 19, 2025) formally charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat, in a plot that included a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and kill a Supreme Court judge.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet alleges that Mr. Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in a plan to remain in power. The alleged plot, he wrote, included a plan to poison Mr. Lula and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

“The members of the criminal organisation structured a plan at the presidential palace 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,’” Mr. Gonet wrote in a 272-page indictment. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”

Mr. Bolsonaro is often seen in Brazil’s yellow-and-green national soccer jersey and the colours have become associated with his political movement.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s defence team said it met the accusations with “dismay and indignation,” adding in a statement that the former, “President has never agreed to any movement aimed at deconstructing the democratic rule of law or the institutions that underpin it.”

Mr. Bolsonaro’s son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who is a senator, said on the social platform X that the indictment was “empty” and there was no evidence of wrongdoing. He accused the Prosecutor-General’s Office of serving “the nefarious interests of Mr. Lula.”

In November, Brazil’s Federal Police filed an 884-page report with Mr. Gonet detailing the scheme. They allege a systematic effort to sow distrust in the electoral system, drafting a decree to provide legal cover for the plot, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan and inciting a riot in the capital.