The Brazilian Supreme Court on Tuesday (Dec. 16) reached the milestone of 29 convictions in criminal proceedings in connection to the coup plot orchestrated during former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. Only two defendants were acquitted.

The court’s first panel concluded the trial of Nucleus 2, the second group of defendants, and decided to convict five more. From September to November this year, the panel convicted 24 individuals who belonged to Nuclei 1, 3, and 4.

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• Supreme Court upholds Bolsonaro’s imprisonment.
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Nucleus 5 comprises Paulo Figueiredo, grandson of former dictator João Figueiredo. He lives in the US, and there is no date set for his trial.

Army General Estevam Theófilo, who was charged in Nucleus 3, and Fernando de Sousa Oliveira, a career Federal Police officer and former director of operations at the Ministry of Justice, charged in Nucleus 2, were the only ones acquitted, due to lack of evidence.

To date, only the defendants in Nucleus 1 – consisting of former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven other defendants – have had their convictions enforced. The other groups are still in the appeal phase.

Below is the list of convicted individuals:

Nucleus 1 – Date of conviction: September 11

• Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil – 27 years and three months;
• Walter Braga Netto, former minister and running mate in the 2022 election – 26 years;
• Almir Garnier, former Navy commander – 24 years;
• Anderson Torres, former minister of justice and former secretary of security for the Federal District – 24 years;
• Augusto Heleno, former minister of the Institutional Security Office – 21 years;
• Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, former minister of defense – 19 years;
• Alexandre Ramagem, federal representative and former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) – 16 years, one month, and 15 days;
• Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp to Bolsonaro – two years in prison under open regime and guaranteed freedom in exchange for plea bargaining.

Nucleus 2 – Date of conviction: December 16

• Mário Fernandes, retired Army general – 26 years and six months in prison;
• Silvinei Vasques, former director of the Federal Highway Police – 24 years and six months in prison;
• Marcelo Câmara, former advisor to Bolsonaro – 21 years in prison;
• Filipe Martins, former advisor on international affairs to former President Jair Bolsonaro – 21 years in prison;
• Marília de Alencar, former director of intelligence at the Ministry of Justice – eight years and six months in prison.

Nucleus 3 – Date of conviction: November 18

• Hélio Ferreira Lima, lieutenant colonel – 24 years in prison;
• Rafael Martins de Oliveira, lieutenant colonel – 21 years in prison;
• Rodrigo Bezerra de Azevedo, lieutenant colonel – 21 years in prison;
• Wladimir Matos Soares, federal police officer – 21 years in prison;
• Sérgio Ricardo Cavaliere de Medeiros, lieutenant colonel – 17 years in prison;
• Bernardo Romão Correa Netto, colonel – 17 years in prison;
• Fabrício Moreira de Bastos, colonel – 16 years in prison;
• Márcio Nunes de Resende Júnior, colonel – three years and five months in prison;
• Ronald Ferreira de Araújo Júnior, lieutenant colonel – one year and 11 months in prison.

Nucleus 4 – Date of conviction: October 21

• Ângelo Martins Denicoli, Army reserve major – 17 years in prison;
• Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu, Army colonel – 15 years and six months in prison;
• Marcelo Araújo Bormevet, federal police officer – 14 years and six months in prison;
• Giancarlo Gomes Rodrigues, Army sergeant major – 14 years in prison;
• Ailton Gonçalves Moraes Barros, Army reserve major – 13 years in prison;
• Guilherme Marques de Almeida, Army lieutenant colonel – 13 years and six months;
• Carlos Cesar Moretzsohn Rocha, president of the Voto Legal Institute – seven years and six months in prison.

In a statement published Friday (Dec. 12), the US government removed the name of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes from the list of persons under the Magnitsky Act.

The name of his wife, lawyer Viviane Barci de Moraes, and the Lex Institute, linked to the justice’s family, were also scrapped.

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The decision was made by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury.

The Magnitsky Act sanctions were imposed on Justice Alexandre de Moraes by the Donald Trump administration in late July. In September, his wife’s name was also added to the list.

The act

The Magnitsky Act is a tool in US law used to unilaterally punish alleged human rights violators abroad. Among other things, the measure blocks the assets and companies of those targeted by the sanctions in the US.

Among the penalties are the freezing of bank accounts, assets, and holdings within US jurisdiction, as well as a ban on entry into the country.

In applying the sanction to Moraes, the US Department of the Treasury accused Justice Alexandre de Moraes of violating freedom of expression and authorizing “arbitrary arrests,” citing the trial of the attempted coup by Brazilian former President Bolsonaro as well as court decisions against US social media companies.

According to Treasury Secretary Scot Besset, Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions, “including against former President Jair Bolsonaro.”

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro’s defense team has asked Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to allow him to leave prison to undergo surgery as recommended by his doctors. The request was submitted Tuesday (Dec. 9).

Bolsonaro is being held in a room at the Federal Police headquarters in Brasília, where he is serving a sentence of 27 years and three months for his conviction in the criminal case involving a coup plot.

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His lawyers claim his health has deteriorated and are requesting that he be taken immediately to the DF Star Hospital in Brasília. His hospitalization should last five to seven days, they say.

“As stated by the doctor treating the petitioner, the former president needs surgery both to treat his hiccups – which are a side effect of previous surgeries – and because his unilateral inguinal hernia has worsened and also requires surgical intervention,” the petition reads.

They also asked Justice Moraes again to place Bolsonaro under house arrest. According to the defense, the prison environment is incompatible with the former president’s health condition.

There is no deadline for Justice Alexandre de Moraes to decide on the matter.

The president of the Brazilian House of Representatives, Hugo Motta, notified Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro of the administrative proceedings against him that could result in the loss of his mandate because of his absences from House sessions.

In March of this year, Eduardo Bolsonaro requested a 120-day leave of absence from his mandate and moved to the United States with his family, claiming political persecution. Since July 20, when his leave ended, the congressman has not attended sessions.

According to the official document issued by Motta on Tuesday (Dec. 9), the decree of loss of mandate may occur because he “failed to attend, in the current legislative session, one-third of the deliberative sessions of the House of Representatives.” This rule is set out in paragraph 3 of article 55 of the Brazilian Constitution.

The notification states that the congressman may respond in writing within five business days.

Defense

In an Instagram post, the congressman criticized the process that could remove him from office. He stated that the process may disrespect the more than 700,000 votes he received by “removing an innocent parliamentarian.” He said that he is not in Brazil only because he cannot return.

Defendant

Eduardo Bolsonaro, who may lose his mandate, is a defendant in the Brazilian Supreme Court for the crime of coercion. In September, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro was indicted by the Attorney General’s Office in an investigation into the congressman’s actions with US authorities to pressure the trial that convicted his father for attempting a coup d’état.

Unanimously, the justices of the First Panel of the Brazilian Supreme Court decided this Tuesday (Nov. 25) to ratify the decisions of Justice Alexandre de Moraes, which ordered the execution of the sentences of Jair Bolsonaro and six other defendants for the coup plot that sought to keep the former president in power, even after he lost the 2022 elections.

After signing the arrest warrants, Moraes convened a virtual session to judge the case. The panel reached a four-to-zero vote to uphold the arrests. In addition to Moraes, the votes were cast by Justices Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, and Cármen Lúcia.

Notícias relacionadas:

• Bolsonaro violates ankle monitor, sent to prison cell.
• Supreme Court upholds Bolsonaro’s imprisonment.

The top officials of former President Bolsonaro’s government were convicted of the following crimes:

• Armed criminal organization,
• Attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law,
• Coup d’état,
• Damage aggravated by violence and serious threat, and
• Deterioration of listed heritage.

Earlier, Alexandre de Moraes recognized the final judgment of the case after the deadline for the defendants’ defense to file new appeals, which ended on Monday (24).

On the afternoon of this Wednesday (26), six defendants who are already detained will undergo custody hearings. These will be held by videoconference in the locations where they are serving their sentences. The proceedings will be conducted by auxiliary judges of Alexandre de Moraes and will serve to fulfill legal formalities.

Execution of sentences

With the procedural phase now concluded, Moraes ordered the execution of the sentences to begin. Below are the sentences and the locations where they are being served:

Jair Bolsonaro – former president of Brazil: 27 years and three months
Place of imprisonment: Federal Police Headquarters in Brasília.

Walter Braga Netto – former minister under Bolsonaro and vice-presidential candidate on the 2022 ticket: 26 years
Place of imprisonment: Military District in Rio de Janeiro.

Almir Garnier – former commander of the Navy: 24 years
Place of imprisonment: Navy facilities in Brasília.

Anderson Torres – former Minister of Justice and former Secretary of Security of the Federal District: 24 years;
Place of imprisonment: 19th Military Police Battalion of the Federal District, located in the Papuda Penitentiary Complex in Brasília.

Augusto Heleno – former Minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet: 21 years;
Place of imprisonment: Planalto Military Command in Brasília.

Paulo Sérgio Nogueira – former Minister of Defense: 19 years;
Place of imprisonment: Planalto Military Command in Brasília.

Alexandre Ramagem – former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency: 16 years, one month, and 15 days.
He is a fugitive in Miami, in the United States. The arrest warrant will be included in the National Prison Monitoring Database.

Jair Bolsonaro

Former President Jair Bolsonaro had already been in preventive detention at the Federal Police headquarters since Saturday (22) for attempting to tamper with his electronic ankle monitor.

Since August 4, the former president had been under house arrest, imposed as part of another investigation into the United States’ tariff hike on Brazilian exports, a separate case in which he is also under investigation.

After his custody hearing, the former president confessed to using a soldering iron to tamper with the device and said he had a breakdown caused by medication.

With the declaration of final judgment, Bolsonaro’s imprisonment will become definitive rather than preventive. 

Defense

The defense teams of the former president and the other defendants commented on the order to execute the sentences. See their statements below:

Jair Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro’s lawyers said they were surprised by the immediate execution of the sentence and argued that he still has the right to file another appeal.
According to the defense team, the Supreme Court’s internal regulations provide for the possibility of filing dissenting opinions.

Braga Netto
Lawyer José Luis Oliveira said that the defense received the decision to execute the sentences with indignation. Oliveira reiterated that the general’s conviction is “absolutely unjust and contrary to the evidence in the case.”
“Unfortunately, we see that the process is ending as it began: with the systematic violation of the right to defense,” Oliveira stated.

Augusto Heleno
Lawyer Mateus Milanez stated that the defense expresses profound indignation and affirmed that the process has deviated from its purpose due to political influence.
“Faced with illegality and persecution, our fight for the annulment of this flawed process and for the formal recognition of his innocence will be tireless and uncompromising.”

Anderson Torres
The former minister’s defense said it received the decision to execute the sentence with “serenity.” Lawyer Eumar Novacki reiterated that Torres had no involvement in the coup plot.
“He regrets that the numerous pieces of evidence showing he was not involved, directly or indirectly, in any attempted coup d’état were not even considered in the decision that sentenced him to a very harsh 24-year prison term,” the defense stated.

Paulo Sergio
The general’s defense said it received the decision to execute the sentences with “deep indignation.” According to lawyer Andrew Fernandes, the appeals he filed in the case were not dilatory.
“The motions for clarification were not dilatory. The defense’s acquittal arguments were not even considered, and what is most alarming is that part of the sentence lacks the necessary justification and proportionality. The motions for clarification were filed precisely to address these flaws,” Fernandes stated.

The news report is attempting to reach Admiral Almir Garnier’s defense team for comment.