Lula with Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) of Brazil. Photo: Prensa Latina.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) of Brazil condemned today that the coup plotters of the events of January 8, 2023 intended to arrest him and hang him in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes.
According to De Moraes, there were three plans to arrest and execute him. The first of these stipulated that the army's special forces would arrest him and take him to Goiânia, the capital of the state of Goiás, about 209 kilometers from Brasília.
A second intention was that his body would be left behind on the way to Goiânia.
The final purpose called for his arrest and hanging in the Plaza de los Tres Poderes in the capital.
De Moraes was not in Brazil this January 8, but with his family in Paris, France, when his son showed him pictures of the extremists marching into the National Congress.
His first call was to Minister Flavio Dino, who at the time was in charge of the Justice and Public Security Department. He also spoke with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Lula and Dino commented with De Moraes on the possibility of federal intervention or the so-called guarantee of law and order.
“The one who decided was the executive branch, but I remembered that during the time of President (Michel) Temer there was the possibility of intervention only in the area of security and maybe that was better,” he told a local media outlet .
For the STF magistrate, the military police's inaction in the face of the invasion of public organizations had the greatest impact.
“I say without fear of being wrong: I wouldn't need 100 shock battalion men to break this up,” he noted.
According to the minister in charge of the High Court's investigation into the unrest, three decisions taken at the time of the incidents were important to prevent further coups from occurring in other states.
In this sense, he mentioned the arrests of the then Minister of Security of the Federal District (DF), Anderson Torres, and the Commander General of the Military Police, Fábio Augusto Vieira, in order to avoid the domino effect in other territorial units.
“I made sure the other military police remained calm, but we couldn't take any risks,” he noted.
At the same time, he added, he helped remove DF governor Ibaneis Rocha from office to prevent anything extremist from happening, and ultimately another authority that supported the coup movement.
“The decision to immediately imprison anyone who stands in front of the barracks and calls for a coup” also had an impact.
Radical supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) attacked and looted the headquarters of the National Congress, the STF, and the Planalto Palace, the seat of the executive branch, on January 8th.
(With information from Prensa Latina)
See also:
Brazil Supreme Court Judge Receives Report on Jan. 8 Coup Attempt