Colorful Daggers

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was charged Tuesday with planning a coup to overthrow the government after narrowly losing the 2022 presidential election, a plot that prosecutors say included murdering the current president and a supreme court justice, the BBC reported.

The far-right former president was charged following a two-year police investigation into Bolsonaro and his supporters’ actions in the run-up to the elections and the riots that ignited afterward in the capital of Brasilia following President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s inauguration in early 2023, Reuters reported.

Among the charges, Bolsonaro and 33 of his allies – including his running mate Walter Braga Netto – are accused of leading a “criminal organization” to subvert the democratic order, participating in a coup d’état, and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

The charges included attempted murder regarding an alleged plot to poison Lula and assassinate Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes – the judge overseeing this case and a foe of the former president.

“The members of the criminal organization 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,’” Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet wrote in a 272-page indictment, according to the Associated Press. “The plan was conceived and taken to the knowledge of the president, and he agreed to it.”

Bolsonaro often dons Brazil’s yellow-and-green national soccer jersey, and the colors have become associated with his political movement.

In November, Brazilian police filed an 884-page report with Gonet detailing the scheme, alleging a systematic effort to sow distrust in the electoral system, drafting a decree to provide legal cover for the plot, pressuring top military brass to go along with the plan, and inciting the riot in the capital.

In the indictment, Gonet described the alleged crimes as part of a chain of events articulated with an overarching objective of stopping Bolsonaro from leaving office, “contrary to the result of the popular will at the polls.”

Bolsonaro denies the accusations and says he is being politically persecuted. “I have no concerns about the accusations, zero,” Bolsonaro said Tuesday.

Now, if the Supreme Court accepts the charges, Bolsonaro and the other 33 accused will stand trial. If the cases go to trial, Bolsonaro faces up to 12 years in prison, the BBC said.

Analysts called the charges “historic”. “The charges show Brazil’s institutions are robust, independent, and agile,” Luis Henrique Machado, a law professor at the IDP University in Brasilia, told the AP. “They are a role model for other countries where democracy is at risk.”

Even so, banned from running for president until 2030 due to a law that bars convicted individuals from office for certain periods, analysts said Bolsonaro and his supporters will use the trial to say they were victims of politics in order to stage a comeback in the 2026 election, the AP wrote.