On September 1st, 2021, then-president Jair Bolsonaro, at the time without a political party, signed into law, with vetoes, the repeal of the National Security Law and the approval of a new legal framework defining crimes against democracy. The new law carried the signatures of then-ministers Anderson Torres (Justice), Walter Braga Netto (Defense), Augusto Heleno (Institutional Security Office), and Damares Alves (Women, Family, and Human Rights). This Tuesday (2), exactly four years and one day later, all those mentioned in this paragraph, except Damares, will stand trial in Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) in the country’s first-ever criminal case over an attempted coup d’état.
Bolsonaro, Braga Netto, Torres, and Augusto Heleno are four of the eight members of the so-called “core group” behind the coup attempt. This group is the first to be tried by the STF. Also standing trial are Alexandre Ramagem (former head of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, now a federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro), Almir Garnier Santos (former Navy commander), Mauro Cid (Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp), and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira (who, like Braga Netto, also served as Minister of Defense).
It is no exaggeration to call this a historic moment. In a country with a long tradition of military uprisings — at least nine in just over 200 years — and still haunted by the legacy of a dictatorship that ended only in 1985, this is the first time military leaders will be judged in civilian court for attempting to destroy Brazil’s young and fragile democracy.
According to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), these men form the central core of a criminal organization that, following the 2022 presidential election, allegedly conspired to overturn the results and keep Bolsonaro in power. They face five charges: armed criminal organization; aggravated damage through violence and serious threat to federal property; destruction of protected national heritage; attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law; and coup d’état. The last two charges are defined in Law 14.197, which was signed by Bolsonaro, Torres, Braga Netto, and Heleno on September 1, 2021.
If convicted of all charges, the defendants face a combined sentence of more than 40 years in prison. Even the most optimistic Bolsonaro supporters acknowledge that convictions are likely, though they hope for differences in sentencing or possible acquittals on some charges, especially from Justice Luiz Fux. There is little expectation of leniency from the other members of the STF’s First Panel: Justices Alexandre de Moraes, Cármen Lúcia, Cristiano Zanin, and Flávio Dino.
More than 3,000 people registered to attend the trial in person, according to the Supreme Court. Only the first 1,200 registrants will be allowed into the building — one of the targets of the January 8, 2023, far-right insurrection. There will be 150 attendees admitted for each of the eight sessions. The first two hearings take place this Tuesday at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Brasília time), followed by a third on Wednesday (3) at 9 a.m. The trial resumes next Tuesday (9), with one session that day, two on Wednesday (10), and the final two on Friday (12).
The defendants
The first defense to be presented is that of Mauro Cid, a key figure in the proceedings. He signed a plea deal and was close to Bolsonaro throughout his presidency. Cid, the son of a military officer, graduated from the Agulhas Negras Military Academy (Aman), where Bolsonaro also studied. He was an instructor at the academy and stood out in various army courses. In government, he was Bolsonaro’s right-hand man, handling the president’s schedule, liaising with authorities, accessing confidential information, and accompanying Bolsonaro on trips in Brazil and abroad. He was first arrested in 2023 in an investigation into forged Covid-19 vaccination cards.
Next, the defense team for Alexandre Ramagem will speak. He is the only one among the eight defendants facing just three charges instead of five. Due to his parliamentary immunity, he is not charged with the January 8-related property damage. A law graduate and federal police officer since 2005, Ramagem is close to the Bolsonaro family and was handpicked to lead the intelligence agency (Abin). He had previously been nominated to lead the Federal Police, but the STF blocked the appointment after former Justice Minister Sergio Moro accused Bolsonaro of attempting to interfere with police leadership.
The other defenses will be presented in alphabetical order. Almir Garnier Santos will be third. According to Cid’s plea testimony, Garnier was the most enthusiastic among the Armed Forces commanders about the idea of a coup. He served as a Defense Ministry advisor during Dilma Rousseff’s presidency and has been in the Navy since the 1970s. He led the Navy from 2021 until the end of Bolsonaro’s term and refused to attend the inauguration of his successor, Marcos Sampaio Olsen, appointed by President Lula.
The fourth defense is that of Anderson Torres. Between 2019 and 2021, Torres was Public Security Secretary of the Federal District. He later became Minister of Justice and Public Security when André Mendonça left the position to join the Supreme Court. As a federal police delegate, Torres worked in investigations on organized crime in Roraima and intelligence operations against international drug trafficking.
Augusto Heleno will be next. One of the first generals to support Bolsonaro’s presidential bid, Heleno and Bolsonaro have known each other since the 1970s, when they both attended Aman. Heleno rose to fame during the 2018 campaign for singing lyrics mocking the “centrist” political bloc, only to later align with it. In the Army, he was an Aman instructor, aide to the now-defunct Ministry of the Army, commander of the military cadet school Espcex, military attaché in France and Belgium, and commander of the UN military mission in Haiti. He became a general in 2007 and later served as commander of the Amazon Military Command. Since 2011, he has been retired.
The star of the trial is undoubtedly Jair Bolsonaro. Born in São Paulo’s interior, he joined the Army in the 1970s but did not remain long. He went into the reserves in the following decade after being convicted (and later acquitted on appeal) for allegedly plotting to detonate bombs in Rio de Janeiro barracks. He then entered politics, first as a city councilor in Rio in 1989, and as a federal lawmaker from 1991 to 2019, serving seven terms. Initially a low-profile lawmaker, he gained notoriety with inflammatory rhetoric and was elected president in 2018. Despite campaigning on an anti-establishment message, he spent 28 years in Congress and built a political dynasty with several sons in public office. He has been under house arrest since August 4 for violating court-imposed restrictions.
Paulo Sérgio Nogueira will be the seventh to have his defense presented. In the Army, he led the Amazon Military Command and became a general in 2014. Bolsonaro appointed him as Army commander in 2021 and later as Defense Minister in 2022 — he was the last to hold the position in Bolsonaro’s administration. In his testimony in the coup case, Nogueira admitted warning Bolsonaro about the severity of the coup discussions taking place inside government circles. He is accused of endorsing electoral conspiracy theories and encouraging the coup attempt.
The final name is Walter Braga Netto, a high-ranking military official and staunch Bolsonaro ally. He served as Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense and was Bolsonaro’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2022 election. He has been in prison since December 2024, accused of obstructing investigations into the coup plot. According to the Attorney General’s Office, he is one of the key masterminds of the coup. Federal police allege that he played a central role in the January 8 attacks and coordinated illicit actions by other military officials, including the so-called “black ops kids” (kids pretos).
