BRAZIL | Ex-Bolsonaro Cabinet minister arrested over alleged coup plot

SAO PAULO (AP):

Brazil’s Federal Police on Saturday arrested a former member of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s Cabinet and his 2022 running mate in connection with investigations into an alleged coup plot, the Supreme Court said in a statement.

General Walter Braga Netto was formally accused in November, along with Bolsonaro and 35 others, of plotting a coup to keep Bolsonaro in office following his failed 2022 reelection bid.

Prosecutors have yet to file formal charges against Braga Netto. The arrest made on Saturday stemmed from allegations of obstructing the collection of evidence, the Federal Police said in a statement.

The arrest request was authorized by the Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, with a favorable assessment from the prosecutor-general’s office.

agents identified

‘robust evidence’

A court statement said police formally requested the general to be preventively detained because its agents identified “robust evidence” that he sought to discover what a former Bolsonaro aide, who signed a plea bargain, was telling authorities.

Authorities also executed search and seizure warrants against Braga Netto and his aide, Col. Flávio Botelho Peregrino.

Braga Netto served as Bolsonaro’s chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 and as defense minister from 2021 to 2022.

His attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Previously, his legal team said they would wait to review police documents before making any statements.

In November, Brazil’s Federal Police unsealed the final report of its investigation into the plan to keep Bolsonaro in office by overturning the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022. Federal Police portray Braga Netto as one of the plot’s leaders, also involved in pressuring military leaders to sign onto the coup.

The 884-page document, substantiated by evidence and testimony, described a multi-step scheme. The plan included systematically sowing distrust of the electoral system among the populace, drafting a decree to give the plot a veneer of legal basis, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan, and inciting a riot in the capital.

According to the investigation, the plan included a plot to assassinate Lula, vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Investigators allege Braga Netto greenlit the assassination plan at a meeting with the plotters inside his home.