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Former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro has officially accused of leading a fist plot intended to keep him in power after losing the 2022 election to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The right -wing politician was accused by the country’s Attorney General of leading a “criminal organization” to destroy democracy in the most populated Latin American nation.
Prosecutors said 33 other people were involved in the plot, including Bolsonaro Vice President, General Braga Netto and nearly two retired or high military personnel.
Part of the plot included plans to kill Lula to prevent him from taking office, prosecutors claimed.
Brazil’s Supreme Court should now consider the charges and decide whether to go to a trial. If convicted, Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump, may face a long prison sentence.
A boyfriend of Brazil Conservatives, Bolsonaro has already been declared inappropriate to run for public office by 2030 due to attacks on the country’s electoral system.
He also faces two other court cases for the alleged counterfeiting of a Covid vaccine certificate and the illegal sale of the jewels given to him as head of state.
In a appearance in the Supreme Court, Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet said the charges “describe the offenses committed by a President of the Republic who forms a structured criminal organization with other civil and military figures to prevent the outcome of the popular will expressed in 2022 elections from the performance ”.
They were based on a detailed report by the federal police from last November.
There was no immediate reaction from Bolsonaro, who previously painted himself as a victim of politically motivated persecution.
In recent days, the former president has tried to gather his conservative forces in Congress to adopt an amnesty law on a plot suspected of a coup, but the speed of the unveiled pursuit appears to have taken him by surprise.
