The first day of the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and seven other defendants for attempted coup d'état at the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on Tuesday, the 2nd, was marked by the harsh reading of the report by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who summarized the case and left a series of messages, and by the technical but forceful statement by the Attorney General, Paulo Gonet. Subsequently, the defense also made oral arguments in which they repeated already known theses, without bringing anything new.

The extraordinary session, held in the morning, was the first of eight reserved for the ministers to analyze the case, converted into a criminal action in March, after the panel accepted the complaint from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) . In addition to Gonet and Moraes, the lawyers for Mauro Cid , Congressman Alexandre Ramagem , former Navy commander Almir Garnier and former Justice Minister Anderson Torres also spoke in the second session of the day, in the afternoon.

See the main excerpts from the statements on the first day of the trial.

Alexandre de Moraes, Minister of the Supreme Federal Court

Moraes reads the report and criticizes the “cowardly and treacherous” attempt to coerce the process

1:38:48

As the rapporteur of the case, it was up to Moraes to summarize the process, presenting the main points of the prosecution and the defenses. The minister, however, took the opportunity to give a series of messages .

Before beginning to read the report, Moraes defended national sovereignty and said that the Court “has never lacked and will never lack” the courage to repudiate attacks on the Democratic Rule of Law in the face of the “cowardly and treacherous” attempt to interfere in the trial.

The message targeted Jair Bolsonaro and Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), who are seen as the articulators of international pressure to try to paralyze the criminal proceedings of the coup – a process in which both are indicted and which led to the former president being placed under house arrest.

In a strong speech, Moraes also emphasized that peace will only come with compliance with the Constitution, referring to the amnesty bill being drafted in Congress to pardon those involved in the anti-democratic acts of January 8, including Bolsonaro."Impunity, omission, and cowardice are not options for peace," he stated, adding:"Sovereignty will never be negotiated or extorted."

‘The complaint was not based on conjecture or assumptions,’ says Gonet

1:08:08

In charge of the prosecution and the second to speak in the session, Attorney General Paulo Gonet presented a technical but forceful opinion . He emphasized that the facts narrated by the Attorney General's Office are not isolated episodes, but are connected by a single objective: to subvert the democratic order to keep Bolsonaro in power. For him, failing to repress coup attempts means favoring authoritarian models, both within and outside Brazil.

According to the attorney general, simply summoning military personnel to discuss a plan constitutes a crime."It doesn't take extraordinary intellectual thought to understand that when the president of the Republic and the defense minister summon the military leadership to present a document formalizing a coup d'état, the criminal process is already underway," he said.

Defense of Mauro Cid

25:02

Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid's defense opened oral arguments . Considered a key piece of Gonet's accusation, the former aide-de-camp's testimony is the target of criticism from other defenses.

Attorney Jair Alves Pereira sought to dismiss these questions, praising the Federal Police's actions, stating that there was a contradiction in terms, and asserting that there was"no coercion" against his client. The attorney emphasized that it was Cid's cooperation that revealed the meeting with the Armed Forces commanders, in which Bolsonaro allegedly presented the coup plan.

Defense of Alexandre Ramagem

Ramagem's defense says there was not enough time to analyze the Federal Police's report on Abin

1:01:43

Next, Paulo Renato Garcia Cintra, lawyer for Federal Deputy Alexandre Ramagem , spoke. He attempted to distance his client from the"crucial core" of the criminal organization accused of orchestrating the attempted coup. A former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) during the Bolsonaro administration, Ramagem is accused of rigging the agency to facilitate the plot – an episode that became known as Abin Paralela.

The defense also challenged the Federal Police's interpretation of alleged intelligence activities attributed to the congressman in the corporation's report, claiming that there was not enough time to analyze the documents.

Defense of Almir Garnier

The defense of Admiral Almir Garnier Santos, former Navy commander, led by former Senator Demóstenes Torres, began its oral argument by arguing that the Attorney General's Office violated the principle of consistency by including, in its closing arguments, facts that were not included in the indictment against the officer. The lawyer requested the annulment of Mauro Cid's plea bargain, which he described as marked by"procedural flaws," and also stated that he "likes both" Moraes and Bolsonaro.

"One day, I was already out of politics and at the Brasília airport. My former colleagues were passing by. Suddenly, Bolsonaro walked by with a little backpack, looking like a toy soldier. I told my wife: even Bolsonaro is avoiding me. He stopped at the x-ray machine, looked, saw me, ran back, gave me a hug, and said, 'Senator, nothing happened to me,'" said Demóstenes Torres.

Anderson Torres' defense

Eumar Novacki, lawyer for former Justice Minister and former DF Security Secretary Anderson Torres, stated that his client has always made himself available “in search of the truth” and criticized the Federal Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office for not being “interested” in investigating the facts in the case of the coup plot.

"The entire prosecution's argument is an outlier. Anderson Torres' defense has always acted with loyalty and transparency. From the beginning, they made themselves available to the criminal prosecution authorities in search of the truth. Unfortunately, neither the Federal Police nor the Public Prosecutor's Office were interested in the truth at that time," he stated.