Brazil police charge former president with planning coup

Authorities in Brazil on Thursday criminally indicted 37 people for trying to keep then-President Jair Bolsonaro in office after his presidential term ended in 2022. The group, including Bolsonaro himself, are accused of spreading disinformation about the electoral system and seeking to enlist lawyers and the military into their coup attempt, Brazil’s federal police said. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the election in 2022, taking office in January 2023.

What happens now? The country’s federal police have concluded their investigation into the attempted coup. Authorities have delivered the charges to Brazil’s Supreme Court. The court will then refer the charges to the attorney general, who will decide whether to prosecute the individuals involved, the Associated Press explained.

Who are all the individuals being indicted? Brazil’s federal police on Thursday published a list of the 37 individuals targeted by the indictment, which they said the country’s supreme court authorized them to do. The people are charged with violent abolition of the Democratic State of Law, coup d’état, and criminal organization, according to the police statement.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro’s name is the 21st listed. Bolsonaro said he would fight the case, according to the Associated Press.

Dig deeper: Listen to Emma Freire and Mary Reichard’s report on The World and Everything in It about the unrest in Brazil at the time of the alleged attempted coup.