Brazilian Police Carry Out Raid Against Coup Plotter

On Friday, the Brazilian Federal Police conducted a raid and judicial asset freeze of one of the suspects believed to have led the coup attempts on January 8, when far-right activists supporters stormed the headquarters of all three branches of government.

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The eighteenth phase of Operation Lesa Patria involved a search warrant issued by the Supreme Federal Court (STF), according to a statement from the Federal Police (PF), which did not disclose the suspect's name.

Nevertheless, the G1 portal reported that the suspect is retired General Ridauto Lucio Fernandes, the former director of logistics for the Health Ministry. His firearms were confiscated, and his bank accounts were frozen.

According to the Federal Police, the damage caused to public assets on the day of the looting of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches may reach US$8 million approximately.

The text reads, "Operation Lesa Patria: Federal Police executes a search and seizure order against a retired general. The Supreme Court also ordered the freezing of the assets and securities of Ridauto Lucio Fernandes for his alleged participation in the January 8 events."

The suspect is being investigated for crimes including "violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d'etat, aggravated damage, association for criminal purposes, incitement to commit a crime, destruction and deterioration or rendering useless of protected property."

The invasion was carried out by radical supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who had been camped in front of military barracks for more than two months, demanding a military intervention to overthrow President Lula da Silva.

Since January 8, over 1,800 people have been arrested, with 1,397 on the very day of the events. Currently, 128 of them remain detained, although nearly all of them are facing the judicial system on bail for various offenses.

So far, three individuals have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 17 years, six more are on trial until October 2, and another 223 are awaiting a court date to have their cases heard by the Supreme Court.