Is Bolsonaro wrongfully imprisoned?
Testimony of the Army and Air Force Commanders from the Bolsonaro Administration
The then Army Commander under the Bolsonaro Administration, General Marco Antônio Freire Gomes, confirmed that Jair Bolsonaro presented a coup decree during a meeting held on December 7, 2022. Meanwhile, the Air Force Commander, Brigadier Carlos Baptista Júnior, upon realizing that the document intended to prevent the inauguration of the elected president, refused to receive it. According to him, the meeting also included a "brainstorming" session, during which the arrest of Justice Alexandre de Moraes was discussed.
Confession of Bolsonaro's former secretary, General Mário Fernandes
Reserve General Mário Fernandes, Bolsonaro's former executive secretary, confessed on July 24, 2025, to being the author of the "Green and Yellow Dagger" plan. The plan outlined the assassination of Lula, Alckmin, and Alexandre de Moraes through poisoning or heavy weapons. Fernandes admitted to having printed the assassination plan at the Presidential Palace.
Materials:
Confession of Lieutenant Colonel Hélio Ferreira Lima
The military officer confessed in testimony on July 28 that he used an Army unit to draft part of the coup plot. The document outlined the arrest of Supreme Court justices, including Alexandre de Moraes. The Federal Police seized a USB drive containing the document from the officer, and coup-related conversations were intercepted between him and Bolsonaro's aide-de-camp, Mauro Cid.
The Coup Decree
The Federal Police found on Bolsonaro's aide-de-camp Mauro Cid's phone a document that declared a state of siege and ordered the arrest of Justices Alexandre de Moraes and Gilmar Mendes. Cid reported that Bolsonaro made adjustments to the document and presented it to the Armed Forces commanders on December 7, 2022. Although Jair Bolsonaro denied in several press interviews that he had knowledge of the coup draft, he later confessed, in testimony to the Supreme Federal Court on June 10, that he presented the document to the Armed Forces commanders. Nevertheless, he denied it was a plan for institutional rupture—despite the document's content indicating otherwise.
Defense Minister's Pressure on Military Commanders
Messages intercepted by the Federal Police reveal that on December 15, 2022, Bolsonaro's Defense Minister, General Braga Netto, ordered to "make life hell" for commanders who resisted the coup. The message stated: "Offer his head. Coward". The objective was to replace resistant commanders with military personnel aligned with the rupture.
Use of Federal Highway Police to prevent opposition votes
The criminal organization used the Federal Highway Police to obstruct the electoral system, creating a "business intelligence" operation to identify locations where Lula had received substantial votes. Federal Police and Attorney General's Office reports demonstrate coordination between the political nucleus (including Jair Bolsonaro and government ministers), the Ministry of Justice intelligence, and the Federal Highway Police to prevent opposition votes, aiming to ensure Bolsonaro remained in power through illicit means.
Fraudulent Representation to the Electoral Court
On November 22, 2022, Bolsonaro and the Liberal Party filed a petition to invalidate votes from electronic voting machines, based on a manipulated technical report. Messages show that data was tampered with even after technicians refuted all fraud hypotheses.
Parallel Intelligence Agency
A clandestine nucleus was created within ABIN, commanded by the head of ABIN under the Bolsonaro Government, Alexandre Ramagem, which used state resources to spy on political opponents. The "Parallel ABIN" demonstrates the capture of the intelligence agency for partisan and coup purposes. The Federal Police's final report, with more than 1,200 pages, reveals that the illegal structure operated with ABIN's human, financial, and technological resources.
Financing of Encampments
Bolsonaro Government's Defense Minister, Walter Braga Netto, obtained money (delivered in a wine bag) to maintain encampments at military barracks when the Liberal Party refused to finance them. These encampments called for "military intervention" and were part of the pressure to induce commanders to join the insurrection.
Ministerial Meeting of July 5, 2022
The ministerial meeting with the Bolsonaro Government's top officials on July 5, 2022, was recorded and shown in Federal Police investigations. In the recorded audio, General Augusto Heleno, then Minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet under the Bolsonaro Government, proposed setting up an intelligence scheme that would include infiltrating Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) agents into the 2022 electoral campaigns. Heleno stated that "what needs to be done must be done before the elections" and spoke of "turning the tables."
January 8, 2023
The invasion of the Three Powers was the "violent apex" of the coup attempt, occurring "with method and organization." The Attorney General's Office documents that there was complicity from BrasÃlia's security agencies and that the acts were encouraged by the criminal organization. Federal Police reports point to organization and complicity from BrasÃlia's security agencies, with documents and testimonies.
Conclusion
The evidence presented by the Attorney General's Office clearly demonstrates the existence of an armed criminal organization that systematically planned an attempted coup d'état. The coup was only prevented by the resistance of sectors within the Armed Forces who remained faithful to the Constitution.