SAO PAULO — Brazil’s ex-President Jair Bolsonaro faces serious legal troubles after being charged with orchestrating a scheme to maintain his grip on power following his defeat in the 2022 presidential elections. The country’s top prosecutor, Paulo Gonet, has outlined allegations that include an alleged plan to poison his electoral rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The charges, announced recently, accuse Bolsonaro of multiple crimes, including an attempted coup, and extend to another 33 associates within his inner circle. Bolsonaro has already been barred by Brazil’s highest electoral court from participating in elections until 2030 due to previous misconduct and his baseless claims regarding the integrity of the electronic voting system.
As it stands, Bolsonaro’s case is presently under review by Brazil’s Supreme Court, which must determine if he will face trial. Should he be convicted, he might face significant prison time. Charges of attempting a coup alone could lead to a potential sentence of 12 years; however, the cumulative nature of the charges could extend his sentence to several decades.
The basis for these accusations stems from a police inquiry that concluded in November. Gonet described a detailed plot orchestrated by Bolsonaro to maintain power, characterizing him as the leader of a criminal organization that has allegedly circulated false information regarding Brazil’s electoral process since at least 2021. The prosecutor claims that in the wake of his electoral defeat, Bolsonaro supported a plan named “Green and Yellow Dagger,” which resorted to the extreme of proposing to poison Lula and assassinate Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, although specifics regarding the extent of this plan remain unclear.
The situation escalated on January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro’s supporters violently invaded key governmental buildings in Brasília, launching a chaotic offensive against the Supreme Court and Congress just days after Lula’s inauguration. This incident was depicted as a desperate attempt to cling to power.
Bolsonaro, a former military officer who has openly admired the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985, often challenged the legitimacy of the country’s judiciary during his presidency from 2019 to 2022.
In terms of his potential prison sentence, the Supreme Court holds significant authority over Bolsonaro’s fate. The justices can choose to try him, return documentation to the prosecutor’s office for further specificity, or dismiss the charges entirely. Although Bolsonaro appointed two of the Court’s justices, the decision will largely rest on a panel of five judges who have no allegiance to the former president, headed by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, against whom Bolsonaro has previously made threats.
Currently, there is no specified timeline for the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the case. The charges against Bolsonaro encompass multiple serious offenses, including leading a criminal organization intent on negating the democratic process, attempting a coup, and participating in violence against state institutions.
Additionally, even if he is acquitted of these charges, Bolsonaro’s legal battles are likely far from over. He is also under investigation for reportedly instructing officials to falsify a public health record to falsely demonstrate that he and his daughter had received the COVID-19 vaccination, enabling them to evade entry restrictions into the United States during the pandemic. Furthermore, allegations exist regarding his role in the illicit movement of over a million dollars in jewelry from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to Brazil, which he purportedly sought to retain for personal benefit instead of returning to the state.
The most serious of these allegations is undoubtedly the coup attempt. Bolsonaro is anticipated to continue to influence lawmakers in pursuit of a pardon for those involved in the January 8 unrest, a strategy that legal professionals argue could facilitate his return to the political landscape. Despite the challenges he currently faces, many of Bolsonaro’s supporters maintain confidence that he will appear on the ballot for the upcoming presidential election rather than in prison.
