Brazil Jails Four-Star Generals for Coup Plot in Unprecedented Step

Overview

• Generals Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira were taken on November 25 to the Army’s Comando Militar do Planalto in Brasília to begin serving sentences for participating in a plan to overturn the election in favor of Jair Bolsonaro, marking the first imprisonment of four-star generals for a coup attempt.
• Heleno was sentenced to 21 years and Nogueira to 19 years by the Supreme Federal Court’s First Panel, with the custody actions executed discreetly under orders issued by Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
• The officers are held in special cells with a bed, bathroom and air conditioning, and—if authorized by a judge—may receive a television and minibar.
• Almir Garnier is in a Navy facility, and General Braga Netto remains in preventive detention after an earlier order tied to alleged interference in the investigation.
• Political reaction was immediate as Senator Damares Alves wept during a Senate session and called the case a setup, while analysis in O Globo cast the moment as a break with longstanding impunity and urged stronger democratic training in the Armed Forces.