Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is part of a federal investigation into an attempted coup that Bolsonaro allegedly wanted to commit together with soldiers and allies to keep him in power. That reports the Brazilian newspaper Oh Globo. On Thursday, Brazilian police arrested four people and searched dozens of houses.
Pending the investigation, Bolsonaro, among others, must surrender his passport within 24 hours so that he cannot leave the country. He is also not allowed to have contact with other people under investigation. It is not clear whether Bolsonaro is actually a suspect and will be arrested in the coming days. Former ministers from Bolsonaro’s government have also been called upon to surrender their passports.
According to Brazilian police, the group around Bolsonaro set up a plan to spread stories about fraud surrounding the 2022 presidential elections, in order to “enable and legitimize a military intervention.” The former president’s allies focused on Brazil’s electronic voting system, which is said to be vulnerable to fraud. In the months before the elections, Bolsonaro regularly publicly criticized this system.
In addition, the group is said to have prepared a coup together with soldiers, the police wrote. Bolsonaro was previously banned from public office until 2030 for spreading lies about the election results and the voting system in Brazil. In addition, there are other criminal investigations into Bolsonaro, which could put him behind bars for years. Bolsonaro’s relatives are also being investigated: for example, a Bolsonaro family home was raided last week in an investigation into espionage by a son of Bolsonaro.