The police report capped a nearly two-year investigation into Bolsonaro's role in the election-denying movement that culminated in riots by his supporters that swept Brasilia, the capital, in January 2023, just a week after his rival, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, took office.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 others, including aides, were indicted by federal police on Thursday for allegedly attempting a coup to keep him in office in 2022.

Brazil’s Federal Police have indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people on charges of attempting a coup to keep him in office after his electoral defeat in the 2022 elections.

In recommending charges against the former president, police say Latin America’s largest country came close to suffering a coup following the 2022 election.

Brazilian authorities have indicted the country’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro alongside 36 other individuals as part of the investigation into a coup plot to keep him in power following the election of his successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro plotted a coup to overturn the 2022 election along with dozens of ex-ministers and senior aides, federal police said in a formal accusation filed on Thursday with the country's Supreme Court.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro could face criminal charges over accusations that he was involved in plans to stage a coup after losing the 2022 elections.

Bolsonaro was one of 37 people named by the country’s federal police in allegations of a violent abolition of the Democratic state of law, coup d’état and being a criminal organization.

Police have formally accused Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro and 36 other people of attempting a coup to keep the right-wing leader in office after his defeat in the 2022 elections.