Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro opted for silence Thursday during police questioning into claims he plotted a coup with allies to remain in power after his failed 2022 reelection bid.
Investigators say the far-right ex-army captain led a plot to falsely discredit the Brazilian election system and prevent the winner of the vote, leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, from taking power.
Bolsonaro, who denies the accusations, did not respond to questions during a half-hour interrogation at federal police headquarters in Brasilia on Thursday, his lawyer Paula Cunha said.
Cunha told reporters that Bolsonaro had exercised his right to remain silent “because he is responding to a semi-secret investigation.”
On Wednesday, the ex-president said he would only answer police questions if his lawyers were first given access to the investigation files.
“No one attempted a coup in Brazil. That is the great truth,” he told radio station CBN Recife.
Cunha on Thursday underlined that his client “was never favorable to any kind of coup” and “fears nothing because he did not commit any crime.”
Earlier this month, police carried out dozens of search and seizure raids targeting Bolsonaro and his allies and confiscated the former president’s passport.
Bolsonaro, who led Brazil from 2019 to 2022, claims to be the victim of “persecution.”
Several of his former ministers and other allies have also been summoned for questioning Thursday, according to Brazilian media reports.
The interrogation came three days before a pro-Bolsonaro rally in Sao Paulo, where he plans to defend himself against the accusations.
Thursday’s appearance is the sixth time Bolsonaro has faced questioning by federal police in a series of corruption and abuse-of-office investigations since he left office.
