Brazil’s Supreme Court to Try Bolsonaro Over Alleged Coup Plot

Brazil’s top court has agreed to try former President Jair Bolsonaro and key allies over an alleged post-election coup scheme.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press at Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, on March 26, 2025. Eraldo Peres/AP Photo

Brazil’s Supreme Court said on March 26 that it will move forward with a criminal trial against former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven of his top allies over an alleged attempt to overthrow the country’s democratic order following the 2022 election.

In a unanimous vote announced on March 26, a panel of Supreme Court justices accepted charges brought by the Prosecutor General’s Office. The charges accuse the former president and members of what investigators call the “Nucleus 1” group of orchestrating a failed coup plot to keep Bolsonaro in power after his defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said he’s the victim of political persecution, told journalists after the panel’s decision that he maintains his innocence.

“It seems that there is something personal against me,” Bolsonaro said. “The accusations are unfounded.”

In voting to proceed with the trial, the justices followed the recommendation of Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the panel’s rapporteur, who is overseeing the probe of the alleged coup attempt. De Moraes found that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence indicating that the accused engaged in criminal conduct.

The charges include attempting a coup d’état, forming a criminal organization, and violently seeking to abolish Brazil’s democratic rule of law. Prosecutors allege that the group sought to keep Bolsonaro in power “at all costs,” including by planning to nullify the 2022 election results and pressure the military to support unconstitutional actions.

“The goal was to keep Jair Bolsonaro in power,” Brazil’s attorney general, Paulo Gonet, said on March 25, adding that investigators had discovered extensive documentation—including handwritten notes and digital files—detailing efforts to overturn the election.

Prosecutors allege that Bolsonaro’s attempts to overturn the 2022 election ultimately led to a Jan. 8, 2023, attack on Brazil’s Supreme Court, Congress, and Presidential Palace by Bolsonaro supporters, just days after Lula took office. Earlier, Gonet charged Bolsonaro and others over the alleged coup attempt, claiming that their scheme included a plan to poison Lula and shoot de Moraes.

“The members of the criminal organization structured a plan at the presidential palace to attack institutions, aiming to bring down the system of the powers and the democratic order, which received the sinister name of ‘Green and Yellow Dagger,’” Gonet wrote in a 272-page indictment. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”

“The responsibility for acts harmful to the democratic order falls upon a criminal organization led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro, based on an authoritarian project of power,” the charges state.

With the charges now accepted, Bolsonaro and the others have formally become defendants in a criminal case. The other defendants include former Justice Minister Anderson Torres; retired Gen. Walter Braga Netto, former chief of staff; Adm. Almir Garnier Santos, former navy commander; and former Defense Minister General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira.

Under Brazilian law, a conviction for attempting a coup can result in up to 12 years in prison. Considering the other charges, the total sentence could amount to multiple decades.