Attorney General reiterates charges against nucleus 2 of coup plot

Brazil’s Attorney General, Paulo Gonet, on Tuesday (Mar. 18) reiterated to the Federal Supreme Court a request to charge the individuals involved in nucleus 2 of the coup plot as defendants.

In the statement submitted to the Supreme Court, Gonet countered the allegations made by the defense teams of the six indicted members of the group, who are accused of organizing actions to “sustain the illegitimate retention” of Bolsonaro in power in 2022.

Among the allegations, the defenses argued that the First Chamber of the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction to try the defendants and that the plea bargain of Mauro Cid, a former aide-de-camp to Jair Bolsonaro, was invalid.

The defendants who are part of nucleus 2 are:

Filipe Martins (Bolsonaro’s former international affairs advisor);

Marcelo Câmara (Bolsonaro’s former advisor);

Silvinei Vasques (former director of the Federal Highway Police);

Mário Fernandes (Army general);

Marília de Alencar (former Undersecretary of Security for the Federal District); and

Fernando de Sousa Oliveira (former deputy secretary of the Federal District Security Secretariat).

Trial

Following the statement from the Attorney General’s Office, the rapporteur of the case, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, requested that the president of the Court’s First Panel, Justice Cristiano Zanin, set a date for the trial of the nucleus.

The panel consists of the rapporteur of the complaint, Alexandre de Moraes, along with Justices Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Cármen Lúcia, and Luiz Fux.

Under the Court’s rules of procedure, criminal cases are heard by the Court’s two panels. Since the rapporteur is a member of the First Panel, the prosecution will be judged by this collegiate body.

The trial of nucleus 1, which includes former president Jair Bolsonaro, General Braga Netto, and the other defendants, is scheduled for March 25.