PGR calls for conviction of all defendants involved in the disinformation group in the coup plan

The Attorney General of the Republic Paulo Gonet asked this Tuesday, 14th, for the conviction of all seven defendants in the disinformation nucleus (nucleus 4) of the coup plan.

In nucleus 4 there are seven defendants who, according to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), were responsible for “strategic disinformation operations” and attacks on the electoral system and on institutions and authorities, what Gonet called “informational warfare”.

The attorney general connected the fake news campaign directly to the violent outcome of January 8, 2023. In his view, the group carried out “strategic management of information known to be false as an instrument of social destabilization”.

“The popular revolt seen at the end of the iter criminis (path of crime) has a causal relationship with the plot generated and inflated by the action of this group of accused”, he argued.

“It was the members of this nucleus who dedicated themselves to fabricating and disseminating false narratives with the aim of instilling in the population the conviction that the democratic structure was turning nasty against the people”, added Gonet.

The attorney general was the first to present his arguments to the ministers of the First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF). He spoke for an hour. Defenses have the prerogative to speak last.

See who responds to the process in core 4:

• Ailton Gonçalves Moraes Barros, retired Army captain;
• Ângelo Martins Denicoli, Army reserve major;
• Carlos César Moretzsohn Rocha, former president of Instituto Voto Legal (IVL);
• Giancarlo Gomes Rodrigues, Army sub-lieutenant and former employee of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin);
• Guilherme Marques de Almeida, Army lieutenant colonel;
• Marcelo Araújo Bormevet, federal police officer and former Abin employee;
• Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu, Army colonel.

This is the second trial of the coup plot in the STF. Last month, former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and the other seven defendants from the “crucial core” of the coup plan were convicted.

When sentencing Bolsonaro, the First Panel of the STF recognized the existence of the crimes narrated in the complaint, which in practice makes the context unfavorable for the other groups.

The attorney general argued that, with the conviction of the “crucial nucleus”, the other groups that were at their service should also be declared guilty.

“It is true that within a criminal organization its members are responsible for all the illicit acts committed. Even chronologically distant conducts are achieved by new actions carried out by other members, since they are directed towards the same purpose”, argued Gonet.

With this, the attorney general seeks to neutralize defense arguments, which are trying to separate the defendants from the leaders of the coup plan. The lawyers claim that their clients did not have enough decision-making power or influence to contribute to January 8th.

The Attorney General of the Republic organized the evidence into a timeline. Gonet described actions that, in his assessment, were coordinated with a single objective: keeping Bolsonaro in power to the detriment of the election results. As a result, even though all defendants did not participate in all stages of the plan, each one contributed, in their part, to the final objective, in the vision of the PGR. The defenses, in turn, seek to isolate the accusations to try to minimize the situation of their clients.

Abin parallel

When presenting its arguments, the PGR highlighted the use of the Abin structure by an “infiltrated cell” in the agency to produce fake news, promote attacks on institutions and monitor authorities. Abin operated as a “counterintelligence center” in service of the coup plot, according to the attorney general.

“The misuse of the State structure was essential for the manipulation and distortion of information with a technical appearance”, warned Gonet.

The attorney general linked the former president directly to the clandestine work that allegedly took place at Abin. Gonet states that the operations were coordinated, “concentrating the production and dissemination of fake news against the same targets publicly identified by Jair Bolsonaro”.

Pressure on the Armed Forces

Those accused are also accused of threatening and attacking the then commanders of the Army, General Marco Antonio Freire Gomes, and of the Air Force, Lieutenant-Brigadier Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior, who rejected the coup.

“The fact that the intimidation did not result in the change of the loyalist military does not diminish its seriousness in the context of the coup attempt. The aggressiveness used, especially in a social environment marked by respect for hierarchy, as well as the moment in which they developed, are elements that attest to the importance of the behavior in the insurgent scenario”, reprimanded Gonet.

Electronic voting machines

According to the PGR, the group also tried to manipulate the Ministry of Defense report that attested to the integrity of the ballot boxes and ruled out fraud in the 2022 elections.

This nucleus would also have been responsible for producing false materials about the ballot boxes for dissemination by Argentine influencer Fernando Cerimedo in a live broadcast and to subsidize the Liberal Party’s action before the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The PL asked for the results of the 2022 elections to be annulled, alleging a malfunction in part of the polls and was fined R$22.9 million for litigation in bad faith.