BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Lawyers for Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro said in a last-ditch effort to defend him in court Wednesday that there is no evidence he attempted to carry out a coup.
On the second day of the verdict and sentencing phase of Bolsonaro’s coup trial, lawyer Celso Vilardi said that even if his client is accused of involvement in planning a coup — something which the defense doesn’t concede -- he never went forward with attempting the crime, and therefore shouldn't be punished.
Vilardi said his position is supported by the fact that Bolsonaro ordered a transition of power after the 2022 presidential election.
The right-wing ex-leader is accused of attempting a coup to stay in power despite his defeat in the October 2022 vote to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing, and has repeatedly said the trial is a politically motivated attack.
Prosecutors have pointed to evidence that Bolsonaro assembled top Cabinet and military officials to discuss issuing an emergency decree aimed at suspending the election outcome in order to investigate alleged voting fraud.
But the defense has noted that the decree was never issued.
“The planning is not the execution. No matter how detailed the planning may be, it is the act of violence that actually consummates the crime,” Vilardi told justices of the Supreme Court panel hearing the case in televised proceedings. “Bolsonaro ordered a transition.”
Bolsonaro ”did not act against the democratic rule of law,” Vilardi said.
Brazil's criminal code says that the crime of a coup occurs when a civil or military public official “attempts to overthrow the established government or prevent the functioning of constitutional institutions.”
Bolsonaro is under house arrest and was not present at the court on Wednesday, nor on Tuesday when the trial's verdict and sentencing phase started. The court panel has scheduled sessions on five days through Sept. 12 to decide whether Bolsonaro is guilty.
The case is presided over by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is considered by Bolsonaro to be a political foe and who has been sanctioned by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called the case against Bolsonaro a “witchhunt.”
Trump also has directly tied a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods to his ally’s judicial situation.
De Moraes took an indirect swipe against Trump on Tuesday when he said Brazil's Supreme Court must ignore external pressure.
Bolsonaro is charged with five counts: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and two counts involving destruction of state property.
A guilty verdict on the coup plot charge alone carries a sentence of up to 12 years.
On Tuesday, Gonet said the plan to keep Bolsonaro in power also involved several other elements, including previous efforts to sow doubt in Brazil’s electronic voting system and a riot by Bolsonaro supporters on Jan. 8, 2023, after Lula was inaugurated.
Prosecutors also have alleged that the plot included plans to kill Lula and de Moraes that were code-named “the green and yellow dagger” by Bolsonaro associates.
“There is not a single piece of evidence linking the president to the green and yellow dagger plan,” Vilardi said on Wednesday.
Paulo Cunha Bueno, Bolsonaro's other lawyer, said the former leader's actions weren’t violent, and that convicting Bolsonaro would amount to “punishing the attempt of an attempt.”
Seven other close allies of Bolsonaro are being tried alongside the former president, including Walter Braga Netto, his former running mate and defense minister, and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, another former defense minister.
Brazil’s top electoral court has already banned Bolsonaro from running in elections until 2030 over abuse of power while in office and for casting unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.
During the coup trial, the prosecution presented handwritten notes, digital files, message exchanges, and spreadsheets that they said were evidence of the conspiracy to keep Bolsonaro in power.
The prosecution finished presenting its case in July and the defense wrapped up its arguments mid-August.
Experts have labeled Bolsonaro’s trial as ‘historic’ and highlighted that it’s the first time high-ranking officials accused of an attempted coup are being subjected to a criminal trial.
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Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro. Gabriela Sá Pessoa contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.
