Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday denied involvement in an alleged coup plot as he took the stand for the first time in his high-stakes trial.
The 70-year-old is answering questions from lawyers and judges on his alleged role in a “criminal organization” that plotted to wrest power from leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who narrowly beat Bolsonaro at the ballot box in 2022.
The plot only failed, the charge sheet says, for a lack of military backing.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, was the sixth of eight accused to take the stand for in-person questioning that started on Monday.
“That’s not the case, Your Honor,” he replied when asked by Judge Alexandre de Moraes — an arch political foe — about “the truthfulness” of the accusations against him.
Bolsonaro and his co-accused risk prison sentences of up to 40 years.
On Monday, his former right-hand man Mauro Cid — a co-defendant who has turned state’s witness — told the court Bolsonaro had “received and read” a draft decree for the declaration of a state of emergency.
He then “edited” the document, which would have paved the way for measures to “redo the election” and also envisaged the imprisonment of top personalities including Moraes, said Cid.
Cid also testified he had received cash in a wine crate from Bolsonaro’s former running mate and defense minister Walter Braga Netto.
The money, say investigators, was to be used to finance an operation by special troops to kill Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and Moraes.
Apart from Cid, the other co-defendants are four ex-ministers and the former heads of Brazil’s navy and intelligence agency.
Most who have taken the stand so far have rejected the bulk of the accusations in the charge sheet.
Two former army commanders have claimed Bolsonaro hosted a meeting where the declaration of a state of emergency was discussed as a means of overturning Lula’s election victory.
– ‘My conscience is clear’ –
Bolsonaro, who is still hoping to make a comeback in 2026 presidential elections despite being barred from running in a separate court ruling, denies all charges.
“They have nothing to convict me, my conscience is clear,” the former leader told reporters Monday.
Almir Garnier, who was Navy commander under Bolsonaro, denied the former president had discussed the declaration of a state of emergency with military officials.
“I did not see any document; no document was presented,” Garnier testified.
He also denied offering Bolsonaro Navy troops.
Although he has the right to remain silent, the former president previously told reporters he plans to respond “without any problem” to questions from the court.
“It’s an excellent idea to speak openly about the coup. I will be very happy to have the opportunity to clarify what happened,” he said last week. “It’s the moment of truth.”
The Supreme Court headquarters in Brasilia was one of the targets of rioting supporters known as “Bolsonaristas” — who raided government buildings in January 2023 as they urged the military to oust Lula.
Bolsonaro was abroad at the time of this last-gasp effort to keep him in power after the alleged coup planning fizzled.
The trial is the first for an attempted coup under a democratic regime in Brazil.
