Brasilia Police Officers Arrested for Omission in January Coup

On Friday, the Brazilian Federal Police carry out an operation against Brasilia's police authorities who failed to act properly during the coup attempt on January 8 when supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro attacked the buildings of the three branches.

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The federal agents comply with seven arrest warrants issued by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) at the request of the Attorney General's Office (PGR), which considered that the city of Brasilia's police authorities did not act to prevent righ-wing coup attempt.

On January 8, Bolsonaro supporters, who had been camped out in front of the barracks for more than two months, called for a military coup to overthrow President Lula da Silva.

The order issued by magistrate Alexandre de Moraes also provides for the blocking of assets, searches and separation of public functions exercised by those investigated.

The text reads, "The face of the coup. Attack on the polls. Sentenced for spreading lies, Carla Zambelli did everything possible to create a coup in favor of Bolsonaro. She allied with terrorists and asked Walter Delgatti to break the polls and forge an arrest warrant against Judge Alexandre de Moraes."

The investigations were directly commanded by Deputy Attorney General Carlos Frederico Santos, who considered that the officers involved exhibited "ideological contamination."

This attitude "was apt for conspiracy theories about electoral fraud and coup theories", in favor of former President Jair Bolsonaro, Santos stressed.

Since January 8, authorities have arrested over 1,800 people, 128 of them remain in detention. Currently, most of the far-right activists are on probation for various crimes.