8/1 CPI rapporteur proposes indicting Jair Bolsonaro for 4 crimes

Brasilia DF) – The CPI rapporteur for January 8, senator Eliziane Gama (PSD-MA), suggested this Tuesday (17) the indictment of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and former ministers General Augusto Heleno, General Walter Braga Netto , general Luiz Eduardo Ramos and Anderson Torres.

The senator targeted the “hard core” of Bolsonarism to point out that the former president was surrounded by coup movements — which reached their peak on January 8 of this year, with the destruction of the Planalto Palace, Congress and the STF.

The 1,333-page report will be voted on in this Wednesday’s session (18). The document, mandatory for parliamentary commissions of inquiry, can only suggest indictments to responsible authorities, such as the Federal Public Ministry.

The rapporteur called for Bolsonaro’s indictment for the crimes of criminal association, political violence, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and coup d’état.

According to her, different facts “exhaustively” show that the former president “was the author, whether intellectual or moral, of the attacks perpetrated against institutions, which culminated on January 8, 2023”.

Bolsonaro’s participation in the coup plot, according to the senator, was exposed by programmer Walter Delgatti Neto, the Vaza Jato hacker, and through the plea bargain of his main aide-de-camp, lieutenant colonel Mauro Cid.

In testimony to the CPI, Delgatti said that Bolsonaro’s campaign planned to fake the invasion of an electronic voting machine in 2022 and that the former president himself asked him to wiretap conversations with Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court).

Different coup drafts circulated around Bolsonaro after Lula’s (PT) victory. One of them, found in Torres’ closet, authorized the former president to establish a state of defense at the headquarters of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). Another was located on Cid’s cell phone.

Throughout the investigation, the rapporteur tried to reconstruct the coup’s rise since the elections, starting with the blitzes carried out by the PRF (Federal Highway Police) in the second round to make it more difficult for PT voters to vote.

The senator suggested that former PRF director Silvinei Vasques be indicted for different crimes, including that of preventing or hindering the exercise of political rights. He has been detained since August at the request of the Federal Police due to suspicions surrounding the election.

Another CPI target was the camp set up in front of the Army headquarters, in Brasília, after Bolsonaro’s defeat. The rapporteur called for the indictment of former Army commander General Freire Gomes and former Defense Minister General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira.

Eliziane also detailed the role of soldiers trained in the Army’s special forces, the so-called “black kids”, and suggested the indictment of General Ridauto Fernandes, former director of Logistics at the Ministry of Health during the Bolsonaro government.

The list of military personnel among those possibly indicted included 22 names from the Armed Forces alone, starting with Bolsonaro himself, a retired Army captain, and Cid, a lieutenant colonel. Former Navy commander Admiral Almir Garnier, mentioned by Cid in a plea bargain, also appears on the list.

The senator suggests investigating lawyer Amauri Feres Saad. Eliziane has no evidence against Saad, but says that the CPI received information that he was the one who wrote the coup draft delivered to Bolsonaro by former advisor Filipe Martins.

The timeline constructed by the rapporteur also mentions the attacks that took place in Brasília in the final stretch of the Bolsonaro government: the attempted invasion of the PF headquarters — and the trail of destruction caused by Bolsonaro supporters that day — and the planting of a bomb near the airport .

The rapporteur stated that the governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha (MDB), “was fully aware of the risk of violent acts”. Even so, the emedebista organized demonstrations on the Esplanada dos Ministérios and did not activate the National Force.

The senator included Ibaneis on the list of possible perpetrators of the crime of omission, but suggested that the investigations against him be deepened by the authorities because the CPI does not have the authority to investigate governors.

Federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) also appears in the report for criminal association, abolition of the democratic State and coup d’état. The rapporteur claims that the Bolsonaro disseminated false information about electronic voting machines and created a bridge between Bolsonaro and Delgatti.

In total, Eliziane suggests the indictment of 61 people, including the top brass of the DF Military Police, businesspeople and GSI employees — such as Heleno’s former number two, General Penteado, who was kept by Lula’s former minister Gonçalves Dias in the first days of government.

GDias, as the general is known, ended up spared. The rapporteur stated that he had only been in office for eight days, and that many of his subordinates had been appointed by Heleno. The former head of the GSI Presidential Security Secretariat, General Feitosa, was also the subject of a request for indictment.

“The January 8th invasions failed in their darkest objectives, but the attacks on democracy continue,” wrote the senator. “January 8th is not over yet, there is an urgent need for the surveillance system to be permanent.”

The main opposition report suggests holding President Lula himself responsible, in addition to GDias; the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino; the former intervener and number two at the Ministry of Justice, Ricardo Capelli; and former director of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) Saulo Moura.

The document also calls for the indictment of the general commander of the DF Military Police on January 8, Colonel Klepter Rosa Gonçalves, and the then head of the corporation’s Operational Department, Lieutenant Colonel Paulo José.

In a second opposition report, senator Izalci Lucas (PSDB-DF) also defended the indictment of Dino and GDias.

*With information from Folha

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