Brazil’s top prosecutor charges Bolsonaro for alleged 2022 coup attempt

Brazil’s prosecutor-general on Tuesday filed charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet alleges that Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in a plan to remain in power despite losing to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Last November, Federal Police filed a 884-page report with Gonet detailing the scheme. They allege it involved systematically sowing distrust of the electoral system among the populace, drafting a decree to give the plot a veneer of legality, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan, and inciting a riot in the capital.

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The Supreme Court will analyze the charges and, if accepted, Bolsonaro will stand trial.

The far-right leader denies wrongdoing. “I have no concerns about the accusations, zero,” Bolsonaro told journalists earlier on Tuesday during a visit to the Senate in Brasilia.

“Have you seen the coup decree, by any chance? You haven’t. Neither have I,” he added.

A lawyer for Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

1:02 Bolsonaro barred from running for office until 2030 by Brazilian court