Brazilian judges accept charges against more Bolsonaro allies in alleged coup plot

By GABRIELA S PESSOA Associated Press SAO PAULO AP A panel of Brazil s Supreme Court justices unanimously accepted criminal charges Tuesday against six more key allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup plot to keep him in office after his ballot defeat Last month the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over the alleged coup plot following his loss to current President Luiz In cio Lula da Silva and ordered the former right wing leader to stand trial When Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet accused Bolsonaro and others of attempting a coup he divided them into five different groups based on their roles and positions in the alleged plot Related Articles Russia batters Ukraine s Odesa and Zaporizhzhia as Kremlin warns peace talks will take time Israeli strikes kill in Gaza and destroy heavy equipment needed to clear rubble of Jewish Holocaust survivors will be gone in the next years a document shows Indian police say gunmen kill at least tourists at a Kashmir resort Anti-Defamation League says anger at Israel is now the driving force behind antisemitism in the US Bolsonaro and his closest allies including running mate Gen Braga Netto were placed in the core group according to the charges On Tuesday the Supreme Court panel reviewed charges against the second group which Gonet stated held managerial roles The second group includes former presidential foreign affairs adviser Filipe Martins retired Gen Mario Fernandes former Federal Highway Police director Silvinei Vasques former presidential aide Col Marcelo C mara and two federal police officers Fernando Oliveira and Marilia Alencar These individuals coordinated actions planned by the core group Gonet stated in the indictment These included mobilizing police officers to promotion the alleged coup monitoring bureaucrats and drafting a document intended to justify a state of exigency Bolsonaro and his allies have repeatedly denied wrongdoing The former president says that he s being politically persecuted Bolsonaro has been hospitalized for more than a week recovering from bowel surgery On Monday from his hospital bed in Brasilia he gave an interview to local television architecture SBT and mentioned that his trial wasn t technical but political Under Brazilian law a coup conviction alone carries a sentence of up to years but when combined with the other charges it could aftermath in a sentence of decades behind bars The former president is expected to stand trial in the next inadequate months at Brazil s Supreme Court