The Federal Police of Brazil
deployed this Thursday
a
vast operation against very close allies of former president
Jair Bolsonaro
,
among them several
military personnel
, for attempting a coup d'état to keep the now far-right former president in power and prevent the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
For the same reason, a judge of the Supreme Court of Brazil ordered the former president to hand over his passport within 24 hours.
The decision was made by
Judge Alexandre de Moraes
, who is leading investigations at the high court into
the coup plot
that, according to authorities,
acted during and after the
2022 elections to keep Bolsonaro in power.
According to the Brazilian press, among the targets of the operation are
former ministers and Army generals
Walter Braga Netto, Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, who were part of Bolsonaro's cabinet (2019-2022), and the former Navy commander, Almir Garnier Santos. .
Former Justice Minister Anderson Torres
, who was already being investigated
for the coup attack on January 8, 2023, carried out by Bolsonaro supporters, and Valdemar Costa Neto, the president of the Liberal Party (PL), who leads the former Brazilian president.
What happened on January 8, 2023?
On January 8, 2023, a group of protesters supporting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
stormed government institutions in Brasilia
, the country's capital.
Bolsonaro supporters take over Parliament in January 2023. Photo: EFE
The protesters
arrived in Brasilia in buses and trucks
from various parts of the country, summoned by Bolsonaro through social networks.
Upon arriving in Brasilia, the protesters first headed to the National Congress, where they broke security barriers and entered the building.
Some of them carried banners and shouted slogans in support of Bolsonaro, while others clashed with police and security guards.
Some protesters managed
to reach the Congress floor and caused damage
to furniture and equipment.
Meanwhile,
another group of protesters headed to the Planalto Palace
, the seat of the Brazilian government.
There, they confronted the police and managed to enter the building, where they caused damage and looted some offices.
They also tried to reach the presidential office, but were stopped by the security guard.
They also attacked the Palace of Justice.
The situation remained tense for several hours, until finally the police and security guard managed to control the situation and evict the protesters from the government buildings.
"A criminal organization"
The Federal Police suspect that this group of politicians and soldiers were part of
a "criminal organization"
that
acted "in the attempted coup d'état"
to "keep the then president of the Republic in power," according to the institution stated in a note.
Security forces confront a crowd of Bolsonaro supporters in the events of January 8.
Photo: Reuters
This Thursday, the agents carried out
33 search warrants, 4 prison orders and 48 precautionary measures against those investigated
, which include "the prohibition of maintaining contact" with the rest of the suspects and
leaving the country
;
the suspension of their public functions and the obligation to hand over their passport.
The Federal Police did not specify who the prison orders issued by the Supreme Court are against.
The investigation indicates that the investigated group
"divided into action groups to spread" suspicions of fraud
in the 2022 elections, in which Lula defeated Bolsonaro, who was seeking re-election, "even before the elections were held."
According to the Police, with this strategy
they sought to "legitimize a military intervention."
Those investigated supposedly
constructed a narrative
to sow doubts about the results of the elections
through false information
about the
electronic ballot boxes
that the country has used since 1996 in its electoral processes and that never caused problems.
According to the Federal Police, there was a second core of action that "consisted of the practice of acts to subsidize the abolition of the Democratic State of Law,
through a coup d'état
, with the support of military personnel with the knowledge and tactics of special forces." in a politically sensitive environment.
These events
culminated in the uprising of January 8, 2023.
Lula had assumed power a week before.
Bolsonaro is being investigated for this episode for inciting his acolytes to take power by force.
With agency information