Brazil's former President, Jair Bolsonaro, was charged on Tuesday in connection with plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 election loss, further complicating the beleaguered far-right leader's already narrow hopes of a political comeback.
Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet charged Bolsonaro and his running mate, General Walter Braga Netto, with leading a "criminal organization" that aimed to overthrow the country's 40-year-old democracy.
A total of 34 people were charged, including several military officials, such as Bolsonaro's former national security adviser, retired General Augusto Heleno, and former Navy Commander Almir Garnier Santos, the office of the country's top prosecutor said in a legal document.
"The responsibility for acts harmful to the democratic order falls upon a criminal organization led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro, based on an authoritarian project of power," the charge said.