The outcome of the prosecution of the central core of the coup plot by the Federal Supreme Court, with the unprecedented arrest of senior military officials convicted of the coup attempt, is historic evidence of the maturity of Brazilian democracy. In addition to former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was detained in pretrial detention on Saturday on suspicion of escape while trying to violate an electronic ankle bracelet, Generals Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sergio Nogueira, Admiral Almir Garnier and former Justice Minister Anderson Torres were arrested on Tuesday. General Walter Braga Neto, former Minister of the House of Representatives and Defense, was already in pre-trial detention.
Of the eight convicts, only Alexander Ramajim, sentenced to 16 years and one month, has not served his sentence. He fled with his family to Miami in the United States. Mauro Cid, a former aide to Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to two years in prison, is serving an open sentence on charges of taking a plea deal.
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After a thorough investigation by the Federal Police, which collected strong evidence of the coup attempt after Bolsonaro’s 2022 election defeat, and the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the operation at the STF followed all legal rituals, with the accused given broad rights of defense. Once resources were exhausted, the STF decided that enforcement of the provisions should begin. Everything is according to the law, without institutional shocks – and in defiance of pressure from the United States, which has imposed sanctions on Supreme Court ministers in an attempt to free Bolsonaro.
The decision to carry out the arrest orders secretly, without the noise of other operations, was a wise decision. On Saturday, when Bolsonaro was transferred from house arrest to the National Front, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur of the case, had already decided that the former president would not be exposed. Everything is as it should be. It will be necessary to face decisions about next steps, such as the evolution of the criminal system, with the same calm as has been maintained up to now – following the law to the letter.
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It is also essential that justice continues to ensure the health, integrity and dignity of Bolsonaro, who has begun serving his 27-year-and-three-month sentence in the General Staff Room of the National Front’s control body in Brasilia. His fragile health is well known. Moraes was right to provide full-time medical care and allow special meals, but the concern must be constant.
In another decision that may become unprecedented, the Supreme Military Tribunal (STM) will analyze whether Bolsonaro – a retired army captain -, Garnier, Nogueira, Heleno and Braga Neto will lose their positions and ranks. The decision is exclusive to STM. According to the Constitution, any officer may be dismissed from the force if he is sentenced to more than two years of freedom. The trial should only take place next year.
The coup attempt was an extremely serious incident and must be treated as such. Had it not been for the determined resistance of some military leaders, the country could have returned to the new system of exception. For this reason, society needs to remain vigilant to prevent protest projects such as amnesties for coup plotters from advancing in the legislature. Pardoning convicts might magically seem like a new coup. The best antidote to preventing similar situations from threatening four decades of democracy – the longest period in the country’s history – is law enforcement. With justice and peace.