Brazilian judges accept charges against more Bolsonaro allies in alleged coup plot

SAO PAULO (AP) — A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court justices unanimously accepted criminal charges Tuesday against six more key allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup plot to keep him in office after his 2022 election defeat.

Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over the alleged coup plot following his loss to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered the former right wing leader to stand trial.

When Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet accused Bolsonaro and 33 others of attempting a coup, he divided them into five different groups, based on their roles and positions in the alleged plot.

Bolsonaro and his closest allies, including running mate Gen. Braga Netto, were placed in the “core group,” according to the charges. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court panel reviewed charges against the second group, which Gonet said held managerial roles.

The second group includes former presidential foreign affairs adviser Filipe Martins, retired Gen. Mario Fernandes, former Federal Highway Police director Silvinei Vasques, former presidential aide Col. Marcelo Câmara and two federal police officers, Fernando Oliveira and Marilia Alencar.

These individuals coordinated actions planned by the core group, Gonet said in the indictment. These included mobilizing police officers to support the alleged coup, monitoring authorities and drafting a document intended to justify a state of emergency.

Bolsonaro and his allies have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. The former president says that he’s being politically persecuted.

Bolsonaro has been hospitalized for more than a week, recovering from bowel surgery. On Monday, from his hospital bed in Brasilia, he gave an interview to local television network SBT and said that his trial wasn't technical, but political.

Under Brazilian law, a coup conviction alone carries a sentence of up to 12 years, but when combined with the other charges, it could result in a sentence of decades behind bars. The former president is expected to stand trial in the next few months at Brazil’s Supreme Court.

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FILE - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the media as he arrives at the Brasilia International Airport in Brasilia, Brazil, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova, File)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Preparations for the conclave to find a new pope accelerated Friday with the installation of the chimney out of the Sistine Chapel that will signal the election of a successor to Pope Francis.

Vatican firefighters were seen on the roof of the Sistine Chapel installing the chimney, a key moment in the preparation for the May 7 conclave.

After every two rounds of voting in the Sistine Chapel, the ballots of the cardinals are burned in a special furnace to indicate the outcome to the outside world.

If no pope is chosen, the ballots are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene (a component of coal tar) and sulfur to produce black smoke. But if there is a winner, the burning ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce the white smoke.

The white smoke came out of the chimney on the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was introduced to the world as Pope Francis a short time later from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.

The chimney installation took place as cardinals arrived in the Vatican for another day of pre-conclave discussions about the needs of the Catholic Church going forward and the type of pope needed to run it.

These consultations include all cardinals, including those over age 80 who are ineligible to vote in the conclave itself.

In recent days, they have heard reports about the Vatican’s dire financial situation, and have had the chance to speak individually about priorities going forward and problems they identified in Francis' pontificate.

FILE - Visitors admire the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican Museums on the occasion of the museum's reopening, in Rome, May 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)