Bolsonaro calls putschist decree “apocryphal”

Jair Bolsonaro, in the background, and Anderson Torres, his former justice minister. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR

Former President Jair Bolsonaro asked the Superior Electoral Court not to admit into evidence a draft decree found at the home of his former justice minister, Anderson Torres. The document could have been used to overturn the 2022 presidential election.

Mr. Bolsonaro called the document “apocryphal,” adding that neither he nor Mr. Torres signed it. Found during a Federal Police search and seizure operation at Mr. Torres’s home, it would have placed the electoral courts under a state of emergency and created a committee with powers to nullify the presidential election results. However, law experts overwhelmingly agree that such a decree would be blatantly unconstitutional.

Anderson Torres served as justice minister under Jair Bolsonaro and had a brief stint as the top security official in the federal capital Brasília. The Supreme Court ordered his arrest under the accusation that he deliberately left the capital’s security forces underprepared for a known putschist demonstration before he flew to Florida on vacation. Mr. Torres turned himself in last weekend.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers told the Superior Electoral Court that “there is no evidence” of any authority or citizen knowing about the draft. While Mr. Torres admitted to its possession, he said it was “probably” handed to him by a private citizen.

The former president’s attorneys added that declaring a state of defense would require the president to meet with two councils, which never happened.

In September 2021, Mr. Bolsonaro, as president, told supporters that he would convene the Council of the Republic, which a head of state is required to do before declaring a state of siege — a much harsher form of emergency state that suspends several constitutional rights.

The meeting was never scheduled, but the remarks were evidence that the president was openly considering emergency measures to launch a coup. On December 29, Mr. Bolsonaro said he “did all he could” to revert the electoral results “within the [confines] of the Constitution.”

On multiple occasions, Mr. Bolsonaro and his supporters claimed the charter’s article 142 could give him powers to call for military intervention. It does not.