Justice Cristiano Zanin, head of the first panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court, has set September 2 as the date for the start of the trial of the criminal action targeting former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven allies, all charged with attempting a coup d’état.
Zanin has fixed eight sessions for the case, six of them extraordinary, i.e. held at times other than those scheduled for the first panel.
Besides September 2, with one session in the morning and another in the afternoon, the sessions are slated for September 3, 9, 10, and 12.
This is the most advanced criminal case on the coup plot reported by the prosecutor-general, which culminated in the attacks at the Congress, the presidential palace, and the Supreme Court buildings. It targets the main group behind the plot, known as Nucleus 1.
In addition to the rapporteur, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the other four justices making up the first panel – Cristiano Zanin, Luiz Fux, Cármen Lúcia, and Flávio Dino – will also participate in the trial.
As is customary in merit and in-person reviews, the trial will be fully broadcast on the official TV channel and radio station of Brazil’s judicial branch, in addition to the Supreme Court’s YouTube channel.
Complaint
According to the complaint filed by Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet based on investigations by the Federal Police, Bolsonaro spearheaded a coup plot aimed at keeping himself in power even if he lost his reelection bid in 2022.
The prosecution states the plot was set in motion in mid-2021, when Bolsonaro instructed senior members of his government to launch an attack on the electronic voting system in a bid to discredit the electoral process and bring about a social atmosphere conducive to a breakdown of democracy.
