Brazil's ex-President Bolsonaro charged in alleged coup plot

19/2/2025 11:53

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro was charged on Tuesday in connection with a plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 election loss, further complicating the beleaguered far-right leader's already narrow hopes of a political comeback.



Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet charged Bolsonaro and his running mate, General Walter Braga Netto, with leading a "criminal organization" that aimed to overthrow the country's 40-year-old democracy.



A total of 34 people were charged, including several military officials, such as Bolsonaro's former national security adviser, retired General Augusto Heleno, and former Navy Commander Almir Garnier Santos, the office of the country's top prosecutor said in a legal document.



It is considered unlikely that Bolsonaro will be arrested before his trial unless Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case, deems him a flight risk.



The charges come just months after the federal police concluded a two-year investigation into Bolsonaro's role in the election-denying movement that culminated in the riots by his supporters that swept the capital, Brasilia, in January 2023, a week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office.