Brazil's Attorney General's Office requested on Monday that 40 defendants accused of invading the headquarters of the three branches of government last January in Brasilia be sentenced to the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
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According to the Attorney General's Office in a document sent to the Supreme Court, in the case of these first 40 defendants, both materiality and authorship of at least five crimes have been demonstrated.
Prosecutor Carlos Frederico Santos said that "the penalty to be applied to the defendants should be exemplary for serious crimes committed in a massive context that sought to establish an authoritarian regime instead of a legitimately elected government."
The defendants are charged with five crimes, namely armed criminal association, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d'état, damages qualified by violence and serious damage to public property. According to the Penal Code, together they amount to 30 years of imprisonment, which is the maximum penalty contemplated by the country's laws.
The tweet reads, "Alexandre de Moraes authorized on Monday (7) that the Ministry of Justice share with the CPI of the Coup Acts internal circuit images related to the day 8/1, when vandals invaded and depredated the headquarters of the Three Powers."
The evidence gathered in eight months of investigation includes photographs, videos, intelligence reports and statements from witnesses and those involved. According to the investigation, the violent attack was intended to incite the Armed Forces to overthrow the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had assumed power eight days earlier.
On January 8, 2023, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro who refused to recognize Lula's victory stormed the Planalto Palace, seat of government, the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court in the city of Brasilia.
The Supreme Court has already accepted the complaints filed against 1,290 people, most of whom were directly involved in the violent events of last January.