The Economist: Bolsonaro’s trial is a “lesson in democracy”
The British magazine The Economist, which hit newsstands this Thursday (Aug. 28), features on its cover the trial set to begin next week that could convict former president Jair Bolsonaro and seven allies for plotting a coup to overturn the 2022 election results.
Bolsonaro appears on the cover with his face painted green and yellow and wearing a Viking-style fur hat - a reference to one of the Capitol rioters in the United States. During the January 2021 attack, Donald Trump supporters attempted to disrupt a congressional session to certify Joe Biden’s election. One of the rioters wore a similar hat, with his face painted in the colors of the American flag, and became a symbol of the movement.
Entitled “What Brazil can teach America,” the report details the trial and states that Brazil “sets an example of democratic maturity for the United States,” which, according to the magazine, is becoming “more corrupt, protectionist, and authoritarian.”
Criminal Action
Criminal Action 2668 targets Nucleus 1 of the plot, also known as the “crucial” nucleus — the group formed by the alleged masterminds of the conspiracy.
According to the indictment filed by Attorney General Paulo Gonet, based on Federal Police investigations, Bolsonaro was the leader of a coup plot aimed at keeping him in power despite his defeat in the 2022 reelection bid.
The indictment states that the plan began to unfold in mid-2021, when Bolsonaro instructed senior officials in his administration to attack the electronic voting system in order to discredit the electoral process and create a social climate conducive to a democratic rupture.
Gonet said that the coup attempt culminated on January 8, 2023, when Bolsonaro supporters - who rejected the election results - invaded and extensively vandalized the offices of the Three Branches of Government in Brasília.
The Attorney General’s Office emphasized that the plans even included the kidnapping and assassination of officials as early as 2022, targeting Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin.
All attorneys requested acquittal on the charges.
