Jair Bolsonaro: Former Brazilian president charged over alleged coup plot to poison successor

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged by prosecutors over an alleged coup plot to poison his successor.

In an attempt to stay in office after his 2022 election defeat, the right-wing politician was allegedly involved in a plan to poison current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, and kill a Supreme Court judge.

Prosecutor general Paulo Gonet said that Mr Bolsonaro and 33 others participated in the plan to keep him in power.

Mr Bolsonaro denies the accusations.

He lost the bitterly fought 2022 election narrowly and never publicly acknowledged his defeat, leaving Brazil for the US just a few days before Lula was sworn in.

The 69-year-old is banned from running for office for eight years after being accused of undermining Brazilian democracy by falsely claiming that electronic ballots used in the October 2022 poll were vulnerable to hacking and fraud.

On 8 January 2023, his supporters stormed government buildings in parts of Brasilia but police arrested 1,500 rioters.

The Supreme Court will review the charges and, if accepted, Mr Bolsonaro will stand trial.

‘Green and yellow dagger’

“The members of the criminal organisation 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,'” Mr Gonet wrote in a 272-page indictment.

Green and yellow may be a reference to the colours of Brazil’s football shirt.

Mr Gonet added: “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”

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Back in November, Brazil’s federal police filed an 884-page report with Mr Gonet detailing the alleged scheme.

They claimed it involved a systematic effort to sow distrust in the electoral system, drafting a decree to provide legal cover for the plot, pressuring military leaders to go along with it and inciting a riot in the capital city.

This was all allegedly plotted with the intention of stopping Mr Bolsonaro from leaving office.

‘I have no concerns’

However, Mr Bolsonaro was bullish about his fate, denying any wrongdoing and telling journalists: “I have no concerns about the accusations, zero.”

“Have you seen the coup decree, by any chance? You haven’t. Neither have I,” he added.

As well as accusations of participating in the coup, the defendants face a number of other charges, according to a statement from the prosecutor general’s press office.

Mr Gonet said that, along with General Braga Netto, Mr Bolsonaro attacked the foundations of democratic rule in his country.