Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is one of the targets of the operation ‘Tempus Veritatis’, launched on Thursday (8) by the Federal Police of Brazil to investigate the existence of an alleged criminal organization that attempted a coup d’état.
Supreme Federal Court Minister Alexandre de Moraes ordered federal agents to seize Bolsonaro’s passport as part of the operation. Arrest warrants also target direct aides of the former president, including military personnel.
The operation was initiated after Bolsonaro’s former aide, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, reached a plea bargain agreement with federal investigators. The agreement was sent to the Attorney General’s Office and ratified by the Supreme Federal Court.
On Thursday, 33 search and seizure warrants and four preventive arrest orders were executed. In total, 48 precautionary measures were determined by Minister Moraes, including a prohibition on the investigated individuals from contacting each other or leaving Brazil.
“The investigation indicates that the group divided into cells to spread fraud in the 2022 presidential elections, even before they occurred, with the aim of enabling and legitimizing a military intervention, in a dynamic of digital militia,” the police reported.
The Accusations
Bolsonaro and dozens of high-ranking aides, ministers, and military leaders coordinated actions to undermine Brazilian public confidence in the elections and prepare the ground for a possible coup, said the federal police.
Their efforts included spreading information about electoral fraud, drafting legal arguments for new elections, recruiting military personnel to support a coup, surveilling judges, and encouraging and guiding protesters who eventually stormed public buildings, according to the police.
The Defense
On X (formerly Twitter), lawyer Fabio Wajngarten, Bolsonaro’s attorney, wrote that “in compliance with today’s decisions,” the former president will surrender his passport to the authorities.
Bolsonaro told the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that he is an innocent victim of a politically motivated operation.
“I left the government over a year ago and continue to suffer relentless persecution. ‘Forget about me. There’s someone else running the country now,’ he said.
Mr. Bolsonaro has already been deemed ineligible for public office until 2030 due to his attempts to undermine the voting system. However, the accusations revealed on Thursday show that Brazilian authorities believe the former president and his allies executed a much more organized plan to subvert Brazil’s young democracy.
Source: Agência Brasil and The New York Times