由 jpichiban Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:55:37 GMT
Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was charged on Tuesday with overseeing a plot to overturn his 2022 election loss with a coup, further complicating the far-right firebrand’s already narrow hopes of pulling off a political comeback.Adriano Machado | ReutersFormer Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was charged on Tuesday with leading a plot to overthrow the government and undermine the country’s 40-year-old democracy after his 2022 election loss, complicating his narrow chances of a political comeback.The charges come after a two-year police investigation into the election-denying movement that culminated in riots by Bolsonaro supporters in the capital in early 2023, a week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office.Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet charged the far-right firebrand and his running mate, General Walter Braga Netto, with leading a “criminal organization” that wanted to create a new order in the country, including with plans to poison Lula.A total of 34 people were charged in the plot, including several military officials, such as Bolsonaro’s former national security adviser, retired General Augusto Heleno, and former Navy Commander Almir Garnier Santos, according to the charge sheet.”The responsibility for acts harmful to the democratic order falls upon a criminal organization led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro, based on an authoritarian project of power,” it added.Lawyers representing Bolsonaro said in a Tuesday statement that he never supported any movement aimed at dismantling Brazil’s democratic rule of law or the institutions that uphold it.Analysts consider it unlikely Bolsonaro will be arrested before his trial, unless Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case, deems him a flight risk.The case echoes the criminal charges faced by U.S. President Donald Trump that accused him of seeking to overturn his own re-election loss in 2020. That case was repeatedly delayed and ultimately dropped after Trump was returned to power in last November’s U.S. election.The charges against Bolsonaro come just months after Brazil’s federal police concluded a two-year investigation into his role in the election-denying movement that culminated in the riots by his supporters that swept the capital, Brasilia, in early 2023, a week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office.At the time, many protesters admitted that they wanted to create chaos to justify a military coup that they considered imminent. Late last year, police arrested five alleged conspirators suspected of planning to assassinate the leftist Lula before he took office.Prosecutors have said the Bolsonaro-led plot included plans to poison Lula, a one-time union leader who previously served two terms as president.Lula narrowly defeated the right-wing standard-bearer in the late 2022 presidential election.A plot to take control”They sought total control over the three branches of government; they outlined a central office that would serve the purpose of organizing the new order they intended to establish,” the charging document noted, referring to those who allegedly pushed the coup plot.Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has repeatedly denied breaking any laws, and calls allegations against him a witch hunt by his political opponents.Meanwhile, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, a son of the former president, in a post on X on Tuesday night derided the charges as an “unconstitutional and immoral mission to attend to Alexandre de Moraes’ whims and Lula’s nefarious interest.”Tuesday’s indictment marks the first time Bolsonaro has been charged with a crime, though he has faced several legal challenges to his conduct as president since he lost his reelection bid.Two previous decisions by Brazil’s Federal Electoral Court have already blocked him from running for president until 2030.Bolsonaro’s lawyers have two weeks to respond to the charges before the Supreme Court decides whether it will accept the charges and potentially hold a dramatic, 电视直播审判。如果罪名成立，博索纳罗将面临至少12年的监禁。复出希望渺茫。圣保罗宪法律师维拉·切米姆表示：”最高法院有99%的可能性会接受这些指控。但要给博索纳罗定罪，最高法院需要确凿的证据。”博索纳罗的前竞选搭档布拉加·内托将军两个月前被捕，警方指控他干预调查。内托的律师在周二晚些时候的一份声明中称这些指控是”幻想”，不会抹去他在巴西军队服役40年的”清白历史”。前海军司令加尼尔·桑托斯的律师表示，他将在全面审查指控后发表评论，而博索纳罗的国家安全顾问海伦诺将军的律师没有立即回应置评请求。最高法院的定罪可能会对博索纳罗在2026年总统选举中与卢拉再次对决的希望造成不可逾越的障碍。2010年的一项法律禁止任何被上诉法院定罪的人竞选公职，博索纳罗本人当时作为国会议员投票通过了这项法律。两名接近博索纳罗的消息人士称，这位前总统对法院做出对他有利的裁决不抱希望。相反，他的盟友希望动员政治支持，向法院和立法者施加压力，为复出扫清道路。周二，在检察官对他提出指控的几个小时前，博索纳罗会见了反对派参议员，讨论一项法案，该法案将缩短政客因违规行为而被禁止参加选举的时间。虽然该法案通过的前景尚不清楚，但最近的民调显示，卢拉的不受欢迎让一些保守派人士感到鼓舞。Datafolha 2月份发布的一项调查显示，只有24%的巴西人支持卢拉的政府，这是他在三届总统任期中的最低支持率。
原文链接：https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/19/brazils-ex-president-bolsonaro-charged-in-alleged-coup-plot.html