Bolsonaro's defense denies involvement in assassination plot and coup-mongering attacks of January 8th.

247 - Jair Bolsonaro's (PL) defense team spoke to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to contest accusations of involvement in a plan to assassinate authorities and in the coup attempts of January 8, 2023. During the trial regarding the alleged coup scheme, lawyer Celso Vilardi stated that there is no concrete evidence linking Bolsonaro to the events mentioned. The statement was made this Wednesday (3), the second day of oral arguments by the defense in the First Panel of the STF, which is investigating the former president's role in the events that marked the beginning of 2023.

"The president did not attack the democratic rule of law," stated Vilardi, reinforcing that the complaint from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) lacks substantial evidence to support any accusation against Bolsonaro. "There is not a single piece of evidence linking the president to the Green and Yellow Dagger operation, Operation Luneta, or the attacks of January 8th," added the lawyer, according to the source. Folha de S. PaulHe also questioned the credibility of an informant, alleging that the informant had lied about the former president's involvement in the events mentioned.

Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of committing five crimes, including attempted coup d'état and subversion of the democratic rule of law, chose not to attend the trial, which could result in his imprisonment. The former president has been under house arrest in Brasília since August 4th and is following the proceedings on television. The defense of the former president, which is divided between two lawyers, began with Celso Vilardi addressing the most controversial points of the accusation, such as the alleged lack of evidence and the validity of Mauro Cid's plea bargain agreement, while the second part will be conducted by Paulo Cunha Bueno, Bolsonaro's defender since the beginning of the investigations.

The Attorney General's Office (PGR) alleges that Bolsonaro led a criminal organization with the goal of overthrowing the elected government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) after his defeat in the 2022 elections. The accusation also describes the former president as a central figure in a strategy that allegedly began in 2021 with a live broadcast where he attacked electronic voting machines. According to the PGR, Bolsonaro continued his disinformation campaign, inciting disobedience to judicial decisions, spreading fake news about the elections, and attacking ministers of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

"What seemed, at the time, to be an electioneering move, in itself illicit and causing electoral sanctions, proved to be, based on the plot uncovered in the police investigation, a further step in the execution of the plan to undermine the expected and feared result of the election," the indictment states. After the defeat at the polls, the accusation suggests that the former president sought ways to reverse the result, alleging election fraud, although the Armed Forces report concluded that there was no evidence of irregularities.

The Liberal Party (PL), in attempting to annul votes from electronic voting machines prior to 2020 under the false allegation of malfunctions, was fined for the ineptitude of the complaint and lack of evidence. Having failed in the Electoral Court, Bolsonaro allegedly met with military leaders in an attempt to find constitutional alternatives to reverse the result. In testimony to the Supreme Federal Court (STF), the former president confirmed these meetings but stated that he quickly ruled out any possibility of action outside the Constitution: "We abandoned and faced the twilight of our government," Bolsonaro declared at the time.