Brazilian police launched an investigation Thursday into allegations of an attempted military coup by the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro following his election loss in 2022.
Bolsonaro was asked to hand over his passport within 24 hours, according to a decision by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes made public Thursday.
The former president was critical of Brazil’s voting system and never conceded the election to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The police have not confirmed the identities of those undergoing searches, but an officer with knowledge of the operation told The Associated Press one of the targets is General Walter Braga Netto, a former defense minister and Bolsonaro’s running mate in the 2022 election.
Police plan to conduct 33 searches and make four arrests, according to a police statement.
The statement released by police said the conspirators planned to claim fraud prior to the election "in order to enable and legitimize a military intervention."
In addition, after the election Bolsanaro’s political party filed a request to annul ballots cast on most electronic voting machines, which would have overturned the results. The electoral authority rejected their attempts.
President Lula declined to comment on a sealed investigation but said his election opponent played an integral role in the coup attempt, particularly the January 8 uprising in Brazil's capital in 2023.
"A lot of people should be investigated, because it is concrete fact that there was an attempted coup, there was a policy of disrespecting democracy, there was an attempt to destroy something we built so many years ago, which is the democratic process," Lula said.
These investigations come just over a week after police targeted other Bolsonaro allies who were allegedly involved in an "organized crime" group operating within the intelligence agency during his term.
Targets include Bolsonaro's son Carlos, a Rio de Janeiro city councilman, and Alexandre Ramagem, former chief of Brazil's intelligence agency.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
