The former Brazilian president and seven of his closest allies are awaiting judgment – and Bolsonaro’s conviction is considered highly likely
L
uiz Inácio Lula da Silva was days away from taking office for his third term as the Brazilian president when soldiers from a special operations unit allegedly discussed the best way to kill him – possibly through poisoning or administering drugs that would trigger “organ failure”.
Investigators would later conclude that the supposed plan to assassinate the president-elect, his vice-president and a supreme court justice was one of many strands of a wider plot designed to keep the far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro in power.
At the end of 2022, Lula had just won the elections and was staying at a hotel in the capital, Brasília, while a police officer leaked details of his security apparatus to the special ops.
