Supreme Court begins hearing witnesses in coup plot case
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday (May 19) begins hearing the testimony of witnesses for the prosecution and the counsel of the defendants in the first group of alleged coup plotters—known as Nucleus 1, made up of former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven others charged by the country’s prosecutor-general.
From May 19 through June 2, 82 witnesses appointed by the prosecution and the defendants’ counsel will be heard. The testimonies will be given through video and simultaneously, in order to prevent the witnesses from deliberately aligning their stories.
During the period, testimonies will be taken from São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas, representatives and senators allied to Bolsonaro, and Army General Freire Gomes, who supposedly threatened to arrest the onetime president after he suggested ing the coup during a meeting.
The testimonies will be led by an assistant judge to Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur of the case, and cannot be recorded by the press or the lawyers.
After the statements, Bolsonaro and the other defendants will be summoned for questioning. No date has been set for this as yet.
The trial that will decide whether to convict or acquit the former president and the other defendants is expected to take place this year. They are charged with the crimes of armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état, damage qualified by violence and serious threat, and deterioration of listed heritage.
In the event of a conviction, sentences could exceed 30 years in prison.
Nucleus 1
The eight defendants make up the so-called “crucial nucleus” of the coup plot—Nucleus 1—and had their charges unanimously accepted by the court’s first on March 26. The group comprises:
- Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil;
- Walter Braga Netto, Army general, former minister and Bolsonaro’s running mate for the 2022 elections;
- Augusto Heleno, Army general and former head of the Institutional Security Cabinet;
- Alexandre Ramagem, former director of Brazil’s intelligence agency ABIN;
- Anderson Torres, former minister of justice and former secretary of security for the Federal District;
- Almir Garnier, former Navy commander;
- Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, Army general and former defense minister;
- Mauro Cid, a whistleblower and former aide to Bolsonaro.
