Justice Moraes votes to uphold Bolsonaro’s ex‑aide’s plea bargain
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, of Brazil’s Supreme Court, on Tuesday (Sep. 9) voted to uphold the validity of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid’s plea bargain deal, which provides details about an alleged coup plot aiming to keep former President Jair Bolsonaro in power even after his electoral defeat in 2022.
As rapporteur in the case and the first to vote in the trial, Moraes stated that the allegations made by the defense teams of the other seven defendants – claiming that Cid had given almost a dozen different versions of the facts under investigation – are not true.
He said that the arguments of some lawyers “border on bad-faith litigation” as they suggest that each new statement given by the whistle-blower brought changes to the facts under investigation. Justice Moraes pointed out there were several statements for different facts and argued they do not overlap.
“There are not eight, nine, or 14 statements. This borders on bad-faith litigation, saying there were eight statements with different facts in the same statement,” he noted.
He acknowledged omissions in the testimony, which were remedied by Cid after a hearing with the rapporteur.
“Even if such an omission – regarding the delivery of cash to finance coup operations – did occur, this and other possible omissions did not have the effect of nullifying the entire plea bargain,” the justice declared.
Last week, in their arguments, the lawyers for seven defendants requested the nullity of Cid’s plea bargain, calling him “a liar” and “irresponsible.” According to lawyer José Luiz Mendes de Oliveira Lima, the lieutenant colonel gave “15 different versions” of the facts under investigation.
Trial
On Tuesday (9), the first panel of the Supreme Court is set to resume the trial that could convict Bolsonaro and seven allies for a coup plot that allegedly sought to reverse the results of the 2022 elections.
The court authorities are to cast their votes on the defendants’ conviction or acquittal from today through Friday (12) in the following order – rapporteur Justice Alexandre de Moraes, then Justices Flávio Dino, Luiz Fux, Cármen Lúcia, and Cristiano Zanin, who presides over the panel and the session.
The defendants are the alleged leaders of the plot and the first group of the accused in the complaint filed by Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet. They are:
- Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil;
- Alexandre Ramagem, former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, ABIN;
- Almir Garnier, former Navy commander;
- Anderson Torres, former minister of justice and former secretary of security for the Federal District;
- Augusto Heleno, former chief of institutional security;
- Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, former minister of defense;
- Walter Braga Netto, former minister of defense and Bolsonaro’s running mate in the 2022 election; and
- Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp to Bolsonaro.
