“Brazil and its Supreme Court regret how, once again in the Brazilian republican history, a coup was attempted, attacking the institutions and democracy, with the aim of establishing a dictatorship”. This was stated by the judge of the Supreme Court of Brazil Alexandre de Moraes reading his final report to the trial against former president Jair Bolsonaro, who risks over 40 years in prison for having conspired – according to the accusation – in order to prevent the settlement of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, winner of the 2022 elections.
“The institutions have shown their strength and resilience,” added De Moraes. The high magistrate specified that “the pacification of the country depends on the compliance with the Constitution, the application of the laws and the strengthening of the institutions, not being able to confuse itself with the impunity” which would end up “encourage new state shots”.
The President of the Supreme Court of Brazil (Stf) Luís Roberto Barroso defined the start of the trial against Bolsonaro an “institutional need to put a final point to the history of state strokes and attempts to break legality” in the country.
Speaking at the center of studies of the lawyers (Cesa) in San Paolo, Barroso recalled that Brazilian contemporary political history is in fact marked by repeated institutional fractures “from the beginning of the Republic” in 1889, “up to the military coup of 1964”.
For the high magistrate, the procedure against Bolsonaro and the other seven defendants, indicated by the accusation as the summit of the armed criminal organization that would have attempted to prevent the settlement of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will be used to “eliminate the idea that those who lose the elections can attempt a stroke without respecting the rules of the game”.
According to Barroso, the political pacification of the country remains complex for the “moments of tension” linked both to the ongoing trial and to the procedures against the hundreds of involved in the attacks of January 8, 2023 to the buildings of the power of Brazilia. “The former president Bolsonaro had 49% of the votes, so it is inevitable that there is tension or opposition to what the Supreme Court is doing,” he concluded.
Bolsonaro will not be present at the opening of the trial before the first section of the Verdeoro Supreme Court. This was reported by the CNN BRASIL website, citing his lawyers Celso Vilardi and Paulo Cunha Bueno. Bolsonaro’s defense explained that the former president, under house arrest, wanted to appear in the classroom at the opening of the trial on Tuesday 2 September, but that due to his health conditions it will not be possible.
Bolsonaro, who risks up to 43 years in prison, will then follow the hearings on TV, as most of the other seven co -defendants of the so -called ‘nucleus 1’ will do, namely the summit of the alleged armed criminal organization including former ministers, generals and close collaborators of Bolsonaro at the time of the facts. Dei Sette, so far, only the former Minister of Defense, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, has confirmed his presence in the classroom, while others, including the vice -president candidate in 2022, General Braga Netto (under house arrest since last December), and the former Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, will participate remotely or from home.
The trial, which should last until September 12, includes five days of hearings before the judges of the Supreme Court Cristiano Zanin, Cámen Lúcia, Luiz Fux, Alexandre de Moraes and Flávio Dino.
The story
For Bolsonaro it is the time of the verdict, his fate will soon be known. It is a story that closes two years of tensions, opening a new political phase especially for the Brazilian right, of which the leader remains.
The unprecedented judicial proceeding represents a double challenge for the democracy of the South American country due to the international context marked by the commercial war launched by the US president Donald Trump, who wanted to carve out a leading role in the delicate historical passage with the imposition of punitive duties against Brazilia, denouncing a political persecution against the former ally in the tropics. With analysts agrees in considering the condemnation as the most likely scenario, the Lula government leded fears for possible new retaliation by Washington.
At 70, Bolsonaro risks over 40 years in prison for having conspired, according to the accusation, to ensure “authoritarian control of power” and prevent the settlement of the left leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, winner of the 2022 elections. Operation failed above all for the failure to support the armed forces. In the accusatory castle, the investigators list a series of coordinated actions: legal maneuvers, use of force and even a plan that provided for the assassination of Lula and the judge of the Supreme Court Alexandre de Moraes, now accuser of Bolsonaro and therefore affected directly by the US sanctions of the Magnitsky law.
The trial tests the political future of the Brazilian right which, according to the influential evangelical shepherd and councilor of Bolsonaro, Silas Malafaia, considers the former president “already condemned”. Officially the conservative block remains compact in the defense of the former captain and in the parliamentary commitment to ask for the amnesty. However, behind the scenes – the local media tell – many wait for the outcome to understand who can collect the huge electoral base in view of the 2026 presidential elections. Even in the case of acquittal or amnesty, Bolsonaro remains ineligible until 2030 for a conviction linked to the accusations – without evidence – against the electronic voting system.
The voltage is high. Carlos Bolsonaro, one of the children of the former president, accused the “mice” interested in inheriting the political capital of his father on social media. Among the ascent figures, Tarcísio de Freitas, governor of San Paolo, listed as a potential candidate for the presidency, stands out. His caution on the commercial war with Washington earned him the criticisms of Eduardo Bolsonaro, another son of the former head of state, active since March in the United States to push Trump to impose sanctions against Brazil. An unpopular measure in Brazil who – according to large sectors of the right that find confirmation in the polls – ended up strengthening Lula.
Armored Brazilia
Brasilia appears increasingly armored 24 hours after the start of the trial against former president Jair Bolsonaro for the alleged attempted coup. The security device in the Brazilian federal capital is concentrated around the Piazza dei Tre powers, which hosts the offices of Parliament, Presidency and Supreme Court, where the decisive phase of an unless politician and judicial precedents will open from tomorrow.
Since yesterday morning, the police forces presided over the square, where containment barriers have been installed, while the prohibition of events remains in force. The contingents of the military police of the Federal District and the National Guard have been strengthened by agents from other states, while a group of judicial police officers Presidia from the inside the headquarters of the Court, ready to intervene in the event of an emergency. Droni with night vision have been flying over yesterday the central area of the capital, while the army has announced “zero tolerance” towards any acts near the headquarters, six kilometers from the center.
The military authorities had meetings with the public security secretariat of the Federal District to coordinate the measures in the next few days. The fear, the local media report, is that the supporters of the former right leader today at the bar can gather in front of the barracks or the buildings of power, as happened in the hours preceding the assault of January 8, 2023, considered the final act of the alleged attempt by coup aimed at preventing the settlement of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.