Getty ImagesFormer Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest allies have been formally charged with allegedly plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election.
Bolsonaro’s vice-presidential candidate, Walter Braga-Neto, and 35 others have also been indicted by federal police on charges of attempting to overthrow the democratic rule of law, coup d’état and a violent criminal organization.
It comes after a nearly two-year-long investigation into whether Bolsonaro instigated the failed coup after claiming the election was rigged.
In a post on X, Bolsonaro said he would “fight” the claims legally, and accused investigators of being “creative” and “doing everything the law doesn’t say”.
Getty ImagesBolsonaro was banned from running for office for eight years after he was accused of hacking and cheating electronic ballots used in the October 2022 poll, after falsely claiming to have undermined Brazil’s democracy.
The bitterly contested election was won by the leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by a narrow margin.
Mr Bolsonaro has never publicly conceded defeat and left Brazil for the US two days before Lula was sworn in as president.
His supporters, who refused to recognize the election results, stormed Brazil’s Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court building on January 8, 2023.
Some parts of the buildings were vandalized and the police arrested 1500 rioters.
In his X post, Bolsonaro added: He would wait to see what the indictment contained.
“I’ll wait for the lawyer. It obviously goes to the Attorney General’s office. It’s in the PGR. [Prosecutor General of the Republic] That the fight begins,” he added.
