Eduardo Bolsonaro indicted for coercion; Jair Bolsonaro not

PGR charges Eduardo Bolsonaro in the investigation on coercion in judicial process related to his father’s conviction for coup. The case involves Eduardo’s actions to interfere in the process in which his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, was sentenced by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) to 27 years and 3 months in prison. According to the PGR, Eduardo sought help from the Donald Trump government to lift sanctions and tariffs on Brazil and judicial authorities as retaliation for the ruling. The PGR also charged content producer Paulo Figueiredo, a Bolsonaro family ally, who worked with Eduardo in the USA.
Jair Bolsonaro, also under investigation, was not charged, indicating that the PGR didn’t find evidence of him coercing the judicial authorities handling the coup case. The decision to accept or reject the charges against Eduardo and Paulo Figueiredo now lies with the STF. If accepted, they will become defendants in a criminal trial. ‘The defendants widely publicized financial tragedies, stemming from the sanctions that they claimed to be capable of inflicting in the United States of America if the Supreme Federal Court did not release the defendants in the criminal case against Jair Bolsonaro and others,’ wrote the Attorney General, Paulo Gonet.
According to the Attorney General, Eduardo and Paulo Figueiredo made their actions and intentions clear. ‘The duo of defendants did not hesitate to attribute to themselves the determining inspiration for the economic sanctions that, as is known, were ultimately inflicted by the US government.’ The defendants’ strategy, as per the PGR, was to threaten STF justices with obtaining foreign sanctions, both for the judges and for Brazil itself. They worked to leverage their connections in the USA, including contacts with high-ranking US government officials. ‘The implementation of increasing sanctions convinced the defendants that the threats and harms already inflicted were producing results on the disposition of the judging Ministers. This emboldened them to intensify the coercive actions. They sought to make it clear, to the public and to the other STF judges, that the measures they used to intimidate were effective,’ stated Gonet.
The denunciation details three main events of sanctions allegedly orchestrated by the defendants: the suspension of visas for 8 STF ministers, the imposition of 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports, and the application of the Magnitsky Global Human Rights Accountability Act on Minister Alexandre de Moraes. The evidence presented includes WhatsApp messages from Jair Bolsonaro’s phone, showing his concern about the sanctions and Eduardo’s efforts to maintain exclusive access to US authorities. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office requests the conviction of Eduardo Bolsonaro and Paulo Figueiredo for coercion in the course of the process, in a continued form, and the reparation of damages caused.