General and former minister Walter Braga Netto underwent a custody hearing this Saturday (14), conducted by an assistant judge from the office of Alexandre de Moraes, minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) who authorized Braga Netto’s arrest. 
Braga Netto’s preventive detention was maintained, informed the STF. He will be detained at the Eastern Military Command, in Rio de Janeiro.
Braga Netto was arrested by the Federal Police, as he was allegedly obstructing the investigation into the attempted coup d’état in the country to prevent the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The Federal Police identified that the general, indicted for being one of the main organizers of the coup plot, tried to obtain confidential data from the testimony of Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp of former president Jair Bolsonaro, as a way of “preventing or embarrassing the investigations ongoing”, according to Moraes’ decision that supported the arrest.
According to the Federal Police report, there are “several pieces of evidence” against Braga Netto, who had acted to prevent the full elucidation of the facts and “with the aim of controlling the information provided, altering the reality of the facts ascertained, in addition to consolidate the alignment of versions among those investigated”. Among them, exchanges of messages with Mauro Cid’s father to obtain details of the accusation and transferred money “in a wine bag, which would be used to finance the expenses necessary to carry out” the coup plan.
Reserve general, Braga Netto was a candidate for vice president in 2022 on the ticket with Jair Bolsonaro. Previously, he was Chief Minister of the Civil House, from 2020 to 2021, and Minister of Defense, from 2021 to 2022. indictmentthe Federal Police found that one of the meetings held to discuss the alleged coup plot had been held at the soldier’s home in November 2022.
Prison
The Federal Police arrestedthis Saturday morning (14), the former Minister of Defense and General Walter Braga Netto. He was arrested in Rio de Janeiro. The PF carried out searches at the general’s house, in Copacabana.
The agents also carried out a search and seizure warrant at the residence of Colonel Flávio Peregrino, Braga Netto’s direct advisor, in Brasília.
In a report sent to the STF last month, the Federal Police pointed out that Braga Netto had concrete participation in acts related to the attempted coup d’état and the abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, including the attempt to obstruct the investigation.
Defense
General Walter Braga Netto’s defense released a statement this Saturday afternoon (14) denying obstruction in the investigations and that he will speak out in the process.
