The Federal Supreme Court (STF) began on Tuesday (2) to the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven other defendants appointed as part of the central nucleus of the so-called coup plot. The session took place in the first class of the Court and was suspended around 5:55 pm, scheduled for resumption on Wednesday (3), at 9am.
Early on the trial, the rapporteur of the case, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, read the report of the criminal action. The document brought the history of investigations, the evidence gathered and the requests submitted by the parties to the phase of the final allegations.
Moraes also gave a firm speech in defense of the Supreme Independence. The minister stated that internal and external pressures will not affect the impartiality of the Court at the trial.
According to Moraes, there is a “cowardly and treacherous criminal organization” that acts abroad to try to coerce the Supreme Court. He stressed that national sovereignty cannot be subjected to foreign interests.
In his speech, the rapporteur also stated that the pacification of the country is not confused with impunity. For Moraes, omission and cowardice in the face of coup attempts leave deep scars in society.
After the rapporteur’s speech, the accusation was presented by the Attorney General, Paulo Gonet. He defended the condemnation of all defendants, noting that a formal order is not necessary to characterize the crime of coup.
Gonet listed episodes that, according to him, prove the coup plot. Among them, attacks on the electoral system, plans for violence against authorities, use of the Federal Highway Police to interfere with the vote, instrumentalization of ABIN and the acts of January 8, 2023.
According to the attorney general, Bolsonaro would not only be the biggest benefit for the coup, but also led the criminal organization that sought to subvert democracy.
For Gonet, the facts recorded in the investigations remove any hypothesis of doubt. He stressed that this is not “fragile assumptions”, but publicly practiced documents and acts.
After lunch break, it was the turn of the oral support of the defendants’ defenses. The first demonstration was from the defense of Mauro Cid, former assistant of Bolsonaro’s orders.
Cid’s lawyer defended the award -winning denunciation agreement and denied that the military was pressured to collaborate. He further stated that there is no evidence that he has encouraged any attack on democracy.
Following, the defense of Alexandre Ramagem, former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), challenged the accusations of illegal monitoring of authorities. The lawyer stated that Ramagem only compiled thoughts of the then President Bolsonaro.
The defense of former Navy Commander Admiral Almir Garnier denied that he has made troops available to an attempted coup. The lawyer alleged absence of direct connection between the military and the facts narrated in the prosecution.
Finally, the defense of Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice and former Secretary of Public Security of the Federal District, minimized the content of the so-called “Draft of the Coup” found in his home by the Federal Police. The document was classified as “Google draft.”
Defendants respond for crimes such as armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état, violence -qualified damage and serious threat, as well as deterioration of listed assets.
The trial was suspended early in the evening and is due to continue on Wednesday (3), when it will be the turn of the defenses of Bolsonaro, former Minister Augusto Heleno, former Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira and General Walter Braga Netto, candidate for deputy in the 2022 plate.
In total, eight sessions were reserved for case analysis. The voting phase is expected to define the conviction or acquittal of the accused, only in the coming weeks.
