SAO PAULO — A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court justices started proceedings on Tuesday morning to determine whether federal officers, retired military officers and an aide of former President Jair Bolsonaro will also stand trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup.
Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over an alleged attempt to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered him to stand trial.
When Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet accused Bolsonaro and 33 others of attempting a coup, he divided them into five different groups, based on their roles and positions in the alleged plot.
Bolsonaro and his closest allies, including running mate Gen. Braga Netto, were placed in the “core group,” according to the charges. Now, the Supreme Court panel will review charges against the second group, which Gonet said held managerial roles.
The second group includes former presidential foreign affairs adviser Filipe Martins, retired Gen. Mario Fernandes, former Federal Highway Police director Silvinei Vasques, former presidential aide Col. Marcelo Câmara and two federal police officers, Fernando Oliveira and Marilia Alencar.
These individuals coordinated actions planned by the core group, Gonet said in the indictment. These included mobilizing police officers to support the alleged coup, monitoring authorities and drafting a document intended to justify a state of exemption in the country.
If a majority votes in favor, the accused will become defendants in a criminal case.
Bolsonaro and his allies have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. The former president says that he’s being politically persecuted. He has been hospitalized for more than a week, recovering from bowel surgery. On Monday, from his hospital bed in Brasilia, he gave an interview to local television network SBT and said that his trial wasn’t technical, but political.
Under Brazilian law, a coup conviction alone carries a sentence of up to 12 years, but when combined with the other charges, it could result in a sentence of decades behind bars. The former president is expected to stand trial in the next few months at Brazil’s Supreme Court.
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