Trial to strip Bolsonaro, generals, former commanders and other military officers for crimes against democracy is unprecedented
BRASÍLIA – The president of the Superior Military Tribunal (STM), Maria Elisabeth Rochadeclared this Monday 15 that the trial of the loss of patent of former President Jair Bolsonaro and soldiers convicted by the Federal Court (STF) for participation in the coup attempt between 2022 and 2023 will put the Military Tribunal to the test.
The trial will be unprecedented. The STM has never analyzed requests for loss of military rank for crimes against democracy. He also never expelled convicted generals from the armed forces.
Five of the 15 ministers who make up the court were appointed by former President Jair Bolsonaro and some members of the court were contemporaries of military personnel convicted during their time serving in the armed forces.
THE Stadium discovered that several members of the STM must take into account the “previous life” of convicted soldiers to assess whether they should lose their rank. This means that, even convinced of involvement in the coup plot, some magistrates can vote to acquit names such as General Augusto Heleno and former commander Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, high-ranking military personnel who enjoy a certain prestige in the army.
Over the past eight years, the STM accepted 93% of the requests for expulsion of convicted soldiers made by the military public prosecutor. The crimes that most led to the disqualification of military personnel were embezzlement, embezzlement, and passive corruption.. The list also includes the rape of a vulnerable person.
As shown State columnthe cases of soldiers found guilty of involvement in the attempted coup d’état expected to reach the Court in 2026. It is expected that the Military Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPM) will make individual representations and that a rapporteur will be appointed for each case.
Rocha intends to call the press to follow the electronic prints of these processes. “I want transparency to be the hallmark of every action I take (in this trial),” he said.
“No one will evaluate the crime that has already been tried by the STF. We will analyze whether or not the soldiers are worthy to continue serving as officers,” he continued.
Due to a centuries-old tradition, the president of the STM will not vote. The minister will only speak in the event of a tie, with seven votes on each side. In this case, the deciding vote will always be in favor of the defendant, another practice in the legal world.
The president of the STM believes that another new element in the trial will be the presentation of appeals against any decision taken by the Court, whether in favor of or against the military. Requests may be proposed by the defendants’ defense, in the event of an unfavorable decision, or by the MPM, in the event of a result contrary to the loss of the patent.
If that happens, the cases would be forwarded to the STF, which historically rejects appeals from military courts. “The Supreme Court has never admitted an appeal. I have always considered that, with all due respect to the Supreme Court, to be an error,” Rocha said.
THE Stadium learned from an interlocutor of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF, that he should speak to the other magistrates of the Court so that they accept the possible appeals which reach the Court concerning the loss of patents.
The STF can either overturn the STM’s decision, which is not common, or order the military court to modify its decision.
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