On the second day of Brazil’s Supreme Court trial investigating an alleged coup plot94bet.com the lawyer for former Defense Minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira stated that his client attempted to dissuade former President Jair Bolsonaro from pursuing a coup d’état. According to Andrew Fernandes, “it has been more than proven that General Paulo Sérgio is innocent.”

The First Panel of the Supreme Court is continuing the trial that could convict former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven allies for allegedly plotting to overturn the results of the 2022 election.

The former minister’s defense, presented on Wednesday (Sep. 3), claims that “General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira was unintentionally entangled in a conspiracy. But the evidence in the case file and the judicial investigation have unequivocally demonstrated his innocence.”

The lawyer also stated - based on the plea bargain of Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp Mauro Cid and the testimony of the main prosecution witness, Air Force Commander Brigadier Batista Júnior - that his client advised the former president that nothing could be done about the election results and had taken a position “totally opposed to any exceptional measures.”

Fernandes noted that members of the organization orchestrating the coup were working to remove Nogueira from office. “Wait a minute — how could he be part of the criminal organization if they were trying to remove him? That’s the litmus test,” he argued.

“It has been proven - more than proven - that General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira is manifestly innocent,” the lawyer concluded.

Trial

On Wednesday, the First Panel of the Supreme Court heard the defenses of four of the eight defendants at the center of the complaint filed by the Attorney General’s Office:

• Jair Bolsonaro – former president
• Augusto Heleno – former Minister of Institutional Security
• Paulo Sérgio Nogueira – former Minister of Defense
• Walter Braga Netto – former Minister of Defense and Jair Bolsonaro’s running mate in the 2022 presidential election.