By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-26 21:56:48 | Updated at 2024-11-27 00:42:25
2 hours ago
Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro “actively participated” in a 2022 coup plot to prevent his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, from taking office, police alleged in a report made public Tuesday.
Bolsonaro was also “fully aware” of an alleged plan by elite soldiers to assassinate Lula, his vice-president and a Supreme Court judge, said the report, which has been handed to Brazil’s attorney general.
Attorney General Paulo Gonet is examining these explosive allegations to see if evidence supports charges being laid against Bolsonaro and 36 other people named as co-conspirators.
The 884-page report drawn up after a nearly two-year police investigation urges Gonet to indict Bolsonaro and the others for planning an attempted coup and seeking to “violently overthrow the democratic state.”
The document details alleged collusion between Bolsonaro and some of his officials, including members of his military brass, to claim fraud in 2022 elections won by Lula and to use decrees to sideline the Supreme Court.
“The then-President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, actively participated in the creation of the coup plan, being directly involved in the drafting of documents and strategies to remain in power, even after the electoral defeat,” the report said.
