SAO PAULO — A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Courtroom will open proceedings Tuesday to resolve whether or not former President Jair Bolsonaro and several other of his associates will stand trial on 5 counts, together with trying to stage a coup d’etat.
The far-right chief was charged in February with plotting a coup after dropping the 2022 election to his opponent and present President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Right here’s the place Bolsonaro’s case stands and what might occur subsequent:
Bolsonaro was charged in February by the country’s prosecutor-general with attempting a coup to stay in workplace after his 2022 election defeat. The indictment was based mostly on a police investigation and accused Bolsonaro of 5 crimes.
Prosecutor-Normal Paulo Gonet mentioned Bolsonaro led a legal group that had been lively since not less than 2021, spreading false claims about Brazil’s digital voting system.
Gonet mentioned Bolsonaro supported a plot to overturn the election outcomes after his slim defeat. The plan allegedly included poisoning his successor, Lula, and killing Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of Bolsonaro. The indictment alleges Bolsonaro was conscious of the plan and accredited it.
Thirty-three others with ties to Bolsonaro have additionally been charged.
A Supreme Courtroom panel will resolve Tuesday whether or not to simply accept or dismiss the indictment in opposition to Bolsonaro.
If the panel determines there’s sufficient proof to recommend the accused dedicated the alleged crimes, a legal prosecution will start. The justices may additionally dismiss the indictment, although that’s thought of unlikely.
If the Supreme Courtroom panel accepts the indictment, Bolsonaro will change into a defendant in a legal case. At this stage, justices might acquire new proof, maintain hearings and interrogate defendants. Prosecutors and protection attorneys will then current their remaining arguments earlier than the courtroom guidelines on whether or not to acquit or convict.
If convicted, Bolsonaro might face years in jail. Beneath Brazilian legislation, a coup conviction alone carries a sentence of as much as 12 years, however mixed with the opposite expenses, he might face many years behind bars.
Bolsonaro, who has already been banned from running for office until 2030 for abuse of energy and undermining confidence within the nation’s voting system, has denied wrongdoing and claims he’s the goal of political persecution.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and mentioned he’s a sufferer of political persecution. On Thursday, he rejected the accusations throughout a stay YouTube broadcast alongside one among his attorneys, Paulo Cunha Bueno.
“What now we have on this indictment is a constructed narrative by which the factors are usually not linked by any proof within the case file,” mentioned Bueno.
The former president also refuted the accusations throughout an indication he staged with 1000’s of supporters in Rio de Janeiro on March 16.
On the political entrance, Bolsonaro and allied lawmakers have tried to amend a legislation that stops convicted criminals from working for workplace.
They’ve additionally pushed for a invoice that will pardon these convicted over an riot on Jan. 8, 2023, when supporters of the far-right chief stormed authorities buildings in Brasilia, Brazil’s capital, emulating the U.S. Capitol riots.
