Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to convict nine members of what investigators call the “third core” of Jair Bolsonaro’s coup conspiracy in 2022. The defendants – eight Army officers and one federal police agent – face the same charges for which the former president and his closest allies, the so-called “core nucleus,” were recently sentenced.
In a document sent Monday (15) to the STF, Attorney General Paulo Gonet wrote that the “third core” worked to pressure the Army’s high command into endorsing the coup plan, while also monitoring public officials and plotting attacks against them.
“Because of the actions of the accused, the Army High Command was severely pressured to complete the coup d’état, public officials were targeted for violent acts, and ground forces were made available for criminal purposes,” Gonet stated.
The nine defendants are:
- Bernardo Correa Netto, Army colonel, arrested in the Federal Police’s Tempus Veritatis operation;
- Estevam Theophilo, retired general and former head of the Army’s Land Operations Command;
- Fabrício Moreira de Bastos, Army colonel, allegedly linked to a coup-oriented letter;
- Hélio Ferreira Lima, Army lieutenant colonel;
- Márcio Nunes de Resende Júnior, Army colonel;
- Rafael Martins de Oliveira, Army lieutenant colonel, member of the “black kids” group;
- Rodrigo Bezerra de Azevedo, Army lieutenant colonel;
- Sérgio Ricardo Cavaliere de Medeiros, Army lieutenant colonel;
- Wladimir Matos Soares, federal police agent.
Like Bolsonaro and the “hard core,” they are accused of armed criminal conspiracy, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, attempted coup d’état, aggravated property damage against federal assets, and deterioration of protected heritage property.
Possible sentences
If convicted, the nine could face up to 43 years in prison each — though such a sentence is unlikely, given that Bolsonaro, identified by the STF’s First Chamber as the head of the criminal organization, received 27 years and three months.
Defense teams have 15 days to present their final arguments before Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the case’s rapporteur, can release it for judgment.
The original list of the “third core” included one more officer: Army lieutenant colonel Ronald Ferreira de Araújo Júnior. However, Gonet said there was insufficient evidence linking him to the criminal organization and recommended that he be tried only for incitement to crime.
