By Eleonore Hughes and Mauricio Savarese | Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — 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 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.
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.
Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.