Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged with allegedly masterminding and leading a far-right conspiracy to cling to power through a military coup.
The South American country’s attorney general, Paulo Gonet, leveled the charges against the radical rightwing populist and several key allies. He accused Bolsonaro and six key associates of leading a criminal organization with an “authoritarian power project”.
The alleged plot, he wrote, included a plan to poison Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.
Bolsonaro, who experts say could face between 38 and 43 years in jail if convicted, stands accused of crimes including being involved in an attempted coup d’état and an armed criminal association and the violent abolition of the rule of law. He has repeatedly denied breaking any laws and on Tuesday told reporters he was “not at all worried about these accusations”.
News that Bolsonaro had been officially charged was welcomed by opposition politicians and progressive Brazilians who despise the former president for his anti-scientific handling of the Covid pandemic; his hostility to minorities, Indigenous communities, and the environment; and his relentless attacks on Brazil’s democratic system.
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