Brazilian police carried out dozens of raids Thursday targeting suspects accused of orchestrating an invasion of the seat of power last year, including far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, whose lawyer confirmed he would surrender his passport.
Federal police said they were carrying out numerous search and seizure operations and executing four arrest warrants in an effort to target a “criminal organization involved in the attempted coup” — a reference to Bolsonaro supporters’ invasion of the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court on January 8, 2023.
The raids were authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who also ordered that multiple suspects be suspended from public duties and surrender their passports within 24 hours.
That included Bolsonaro, whose lawyer and adviser Fabio Wajngarten confirmed in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that the former leader would comply with the order.
Four army generals were also targeted in the raids, including Bolsonaro’s former defense minister and vice presidential candidate Walter Braga Netto and one of the ex-president’s closest advisers, Augusto Heleno.
The riots came one week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s inauguration following a narrow election win in October 2022 over Bolsonaro, who served as president from 2019 to 2022.
Tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the halls of power, trashing the premises and calling for the military to oust veteran leftist Lula, alleging, without evidence, that the election was stolen.
‘Story of alleged fraud’
Police said the suspected coup organizers “spread a story of alleged fraud in the 2022 elections, with a false account of vulnerabilities in the electronic voting system.”
They subsequently acted to “finance the overthrow of the democratic rule of law through a coup d’etat, with support from members of the military with knowledge of special forces tactics,” police said.
Bolsonaro, who was in the United States at the time of the riots, has repeatedly denied responsibility.
The former president faces numerous investigations of alleged corruption and abuse of office stemming from his time in power.
In June, electoral authorities barred the former army captain from running for public office for eight years over his unproven fraud allegations against Brazil’s voting system.
His inner circle has also been caught up in an investigation into allegations of illegal spying on his perceived opponents and other political figures.
Last month, police raided the Bolsonaros’ vacation home in Angra dos Reis, outside Rio de Janeiro, in an operation targeting the former president’s son Carlos, a Rio city councilor, in connection with that investigation.
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