Police crackdown on funders of 2023 right-wing coup attempt

Brasil de Fato

On Thursday (29), Brazil’s Federal Police carried out ten search and seizure warrants on people who took part in the attempted coup on January 8 2023, when supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) invaded and partially destroyed the buildings of the Planalto Palace, the National Congress and the Supreme Court (also known as STF, in Portuguese), in an attempt to establish a coup in the country. The damage the plotters caused is estimated at around US$ 7 million. 

In total, the 29th phase of Operation Lesa Pátria is carrying out five warrants in the state of Santa Catarina, three in Rio de Janeiro, one in the state of Goiás and another in the Federal District. The Supreme Court, where the investigation is taking place, has also ordered that the property, assets and money of those under investigation be made unavailable. 

Those involved are being investigated for the crimes of violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup attempt, qualified damage, criminal association, incitement to crime, destruction or rendering useless of specially protected property.

At the beginning of July, Operation Lesa Pátria was extended until January 2025. In the first 12 months of the investigation, from January last year to January this year, the Federal Police carried out 97 preventive arrest warrants, 313 search and seizure warrants and seized US$ 2.06 million in goods and money from those under investigation, according to the corporation’s most recent report.

According to the Federal Police, all the perpetrators of the attempted coup have already been identified. The operation is now looking for the inciters and financiers of the January 8 attack. It is expected that at least one more operation will be carried out by the end of the new deadline.