Former President Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyer, Celso Vilardi, harshly criticized the decision of the First Class of the Supreme Court (STF), which made his client defendant for attempted coup, in unanimous trial held on Wednesday (26). In a statement to the press at the departure of the trial, Vilardi stated that the complaint lacks a concrete basis and that there is an attempt to improperly link Bolsonaro to the scammer acts of 8 January 2023.
“We are talking about January 8, which is something the president is not involved, was not involved,” said the lawyer. “Only in the complaint does this involvement arise, because not even in the Federal Police report came. A narrative of January 8 was created to involve the president. This is the truth.”
Vilardi also criticized procedural driving, stating that the defense had only partial access to evidence, which would compromise the right to the contradictory. “Excerpts of dialogues, parts of testimonials … We don’t know in what context they were placed. Let’s prove innocence? Let’s go. But we need to have freedom of defense, because otherwise it’s very complicated,” he said.
The lawyer argued that the trial has brought to light exactly the risk that the defense had been warning since the beginning of the process: “The warning we have been making since the presentation of yesterday’s defense and oral support is what happened today.”
Vilardi also praised the vote of Minister Luiz Fux, especially regarding the evaluation of the dosimetry and the analysis of the two crimes imputed to Bolsonaro, highlighting legal conflicts between them: “Former President Luiz Fux made an absolutely correct position.”
The STF’s decision marks an unprecedented step in the Brazilian political scenario, by placing a former president in the defendants for involvement in an attempted institutional rupture. Bolsonaro’s defense is now preparing to formally challenge the accusations, alleging weakness in evidence and defense curtailment.
