(LifeSiteNews) — Brazilian federal police indicted Catholic former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others, including a priest and military officers, for an alleged “coup” to maintain office after it was announced Bolsonaro lost the 2022 election by a thin margin.
Police said they would deliver indictment documents to Brazil’s Supreme Court, which will in turn “refer them to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet, who decides either to formally charge Bolsonaro and put him on trial, or toss the investigation,” the Associated Press reported.
Those indicted with the former president include primarily high-ranking military officials as well as Father José Eduardo de Oliveira e Silva, a Catholic priest who has a large social media following and has become known for his strong criticism of abortion, feminism, and gender ideology, and for his support of traditional Catholicism.
Brazilian police said Silva visited the presidential palace in November 2022 and claimed he discussed plans for a coup against current socialist president and convicted criminal Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro, who is pro-life, pro-family and anti-globalist, was said to have lost his re-election bid to Lula 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent. While the Catholic leader did not verbally concede defeat, his chief of staff acknowledged that they would facilitate the transition of power. Shortly after the statement, the Supreme Court of Brazil released a statement saying that by authorizing the transition of power he had recognized the result of the election.
Bolsonaro went on to challenge the election results by filing a 33-page lawsuit, but left-wing Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes tossed it out. Many conservatives believe the race was stolen.
In the leadup to the election, Bolsonaro questioned the integrity of the electronic voting system, prompting concerns from supporters about the legitimacy of the election. After his supposed loss, millions of Brazilians took to the streets to protest the results.
Internal information from X (formerly Twitter) has since emerged showing how the deep state in Brazil pressured the platform to censor content and interfered in the 2022 presidential election. Journalist and author Michael Shellenberger dubbed his findings “Twitter Files Brazil,” which he said showed “a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice named Alexandre de Moraes.”
The efforts to indict Bolsonaro for challenging the 2022 election are reminiscent of the U.S. legal system’s own indictment of anti-globalist President Donald Trump for challenging the 2020 election, which he likewise legally challenged.
As the U.S. Justice Department under President Joe Biden has attacked Trump, Brazil’s legal system has largely undermined Bolsonaro in favor of convicted criminal Lula. Last year, Bolsonaro was barred from running for public office until 2030 by a panel of judges in what appeared to be a case of political retribution under Lula.
Before defeating Bolsonaro, Lula was convicted in 2017 of corruption and money laundering, for which he was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison. In 2019, he was found guilty of bribe-related charges in a separate case. However, a 6-5 vote by the Supreme Court allowed him to leave prison later that year. In March 2021, a Supreme Court judge annulled the charges against him. Weeks later, the Court decided he was free to run in the 2022 election.