247 - Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), presented this Tuesday (9) a tough vote in the trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and seven other allies, accused of planning the attempted coup d'état against the result of the 2022 elections, won by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

"In view of all the above, I vote in favor of the full merits of the criminal action to convict the defendants Almir Garnier Santos, Anderson Gustavo Torres, Augusto Ribeiro Pereira, Mauro Cesar Barbosa Cid, Paulo Sergio Nogueira de Oliveira and Walter Souza Braga Netto for the practice of armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic State of Law, coup d'état, damage qualified by violence and serious threat against the Union's property and deterioration of listed property," said Moraes.

"Regarding Jair Messias Bolsonaro, for the same offenses already described and the specific charge of leading a criminal organization," he added."And I condemn the defendant Alexandre Ramagem for the practices of an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, and a coup d'état."

As rapporteur for the case in the First Chamber, Moraes described in detail the workings of a criminal organization led by the former president, analyzed evidence, refuted the defense's arguments, and emphasized that the country was on the verge of reverting to an authoritarian regime."The defendants committed all the criminal offenses charged by the Attorney General's Office," Moraes said.

“We are gradually forgetting that Brazil is almost returning to a dictatorship that lasted 20 years because a criminal organization made up of a political group doesn't know how to lose elections,” he said.

Criminal organization under Bolsonaro's command

Moraes structured his vote by highlighting Bolsonaro's continued actions from July 2021 until the acts of January 8, 2023. According to the minister, the former president headed a hierarchical and permanent network dedicated to attacking Brazilian democracy.

"The group is a criminal organization under the leadership of Jair Messias Bolsonaro who, during the period from July 2021 to January 8, 2023, with a division of tasks and in a permanent and hierarchical manner, carried out several executive acts aimed at, first: undermining the Democratic Rule of Law (...). And also executive acts to try to depose, through a serious threat, a legitimately constituted government," he said.

He emphasized that these are separate crimes — violating the rule of law and attempting a coup d'état — and that the sentences can be combined.

The strategy of discrediting democracy

According to Moraes, starting in 2021, the group began an offensive against the electoral system, seeking to discredit electronic voting machines and turn the population against the Judiciary.

“The criminal organization began carrying out these acts of execution with the aim of perpetuating itself in power, either through control of the Judiciary and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), or by disregarding the rules of democracy and the elections that would take place in 2022,” he stated.

He also detailed the use of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) and the Institutional Security Office (GSI) in the creation of the so-called “parallel Abin”, aimed at monitoring political opponents and spreading disinformation.

"It is unreasonable to consider it normal for an Army general, a four-star general, and the Minister of the State Security Administration (GSI), to have an agenda filled with coup notes, preparing to carry out acts to delegitimize the elections and the Judiciary, and to perpetuate himself in power," he criticized, referring to General Augusto Heleno.

September 7th and the"confession"

The minister recalled September 7, 2021, as a milestone in the coup escalation. On that occasion, Bolsonaro spoke in Brasília and São Paulo, threatening the Supreme Court.

"This isn't bar talk (...). This is the President of the Republic on September 7th, the date of Brazil's independence, instigating thousands of people against the Supreme Court, against the Judiciary, and specifically against a Supreme Court justice," he said.

For Moraes, the speeches constituted a public confession of a crime."A sentence that confesses again, orally, before thousands of people, the crime of abolishing the Democratic Rule of Law (...). Any decent and good-natured person knows that a political leader, in a high position, instigating and inciting thousands of people in this way, exponentially increases the attacks and threats against the Supreme Court, the ministers, and their families."

The meeting with ambassadors and the "attempt to return to the status of a colony"

Another harshly criticized episode was the meeting called by Bolsonaro on July 18, 2022, with foreign ambassadors, at the Alvorada Palace, to discredit the electronic voting system.

"I would say that this meeting will perhaps go down in history as one of the greatest moments of national surrender (...). Recent events demonstrate that this meeting was merely preparatory for an attempt to return to the status of a Brazilian colony, but no longer of Portugal," said Moraes.

For him, the meeting aimed to “prepare the discrediting of the electoral results, always with the aim of this political group perpetuating itself in power.”

The electoral defeat and the Defense note

Moraes recalled that, after Bolsonaro's defeat in the runoff election on October 30, 2022, the criminal organization financed highway blockades and encouraged camps in front of military barracks. He criticized the Federal Highway Police's (PRF) inaction and highlighted that, on November 10, then-Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira released a statement to keep the fraud narrative alive.

"One of the most bizarre, shameful statements that a Brazilian Defense Minister could have issued. (...) The conduct is shameful. It would only be shameful if it weren't criminal," he said.

State of siege as a disguise for a coup

The rapporteur also rejected Bolsonaro's arguments that he was only discussing"considerations" or constitutional hypotheses with the military.

"There is no constitutional provision for declaring a state of siege, a state of defense, or a state of emergency in the event of an electoral defeat. It doesn't exist. Call it what you will. This was a draft of a coup d'état," he declared.

And he quipped: “Whoever intends to carry out a coup, carries out a coup, as was intended and attempted here, not by talking to the Legislature or to advisors of the Republic, but by talking to and asking for the loyalty and support of the commanders of the Armed Forces.”

Threats and suspicion rejected

Moraes also used his vote to reject allegations that he was suspected or prevented from judging the case because he had been the target of personal attacks.

"All lawyers know that any judge who is threatened, coerced, or even assaulted during the course of a trial by someone under investigation does not become suspect or disqualified. (...) The Code of Criminal Procedure is clear: any supervening fact linked to the trial that attempts to coerce or destroy justice, that offends the judge, is not grounds for suspicion or disqualification."

"Brazil almost returned to a dictatorship"

Moraes highlighted the gravity of the acts committed and stated that Brazil was very close to losing its democracy.

"This bomb [in Brasília, on Christmas Day 2022] almost exploded. It would have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. (...) Brazil almost returned to a dictatorship because a criminal organization led by Jair Bolsonaro doesn't understand that alternating power is a democratic and republican principle. Whoever loses becomes the opposition and runs in the next elections. Whoever wins takes over and tries to maintain their position through popular vote, not using state agencies, not with bombs in airports, not by vandalizing the headquarters of the Three Powers."

The trial

In addition to Bolsonaro, Augusto Heleno, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, Anderson Torres, Walter Braga Netto, Alexandre Ramagem, Almir Garnier and Mauro Cid — the latter a collaborator in the investigations — are also defendants.

The complaint filed by the Attorney General's Office (PGR), signed by Paulo Gonet, calls for the conviction of all, with sentences of up to 30 years in prison. The trial is underway in the First Chamber of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), composed of Cristiano Zanin, Cármen Lúcia, Alexandre de Moraes, Luiz Fux, and Flávio Dino.