The trial will be the first of an ex-leader accused of attempting to take power by force since the start of Brazil’s transition from dictatorship to democracy in 1985.
If convicted, the 70-year-old former army captain, who had nurtured hopes of making a comeback in elections scheduled for next year, risks a jail term of over 40 years.
Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019-2022, is accused of leading a “criminal organization” that conspired to keep him in power regardless of the outcome of the 2022 election.
He lost to veteran left-winger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by a razor-thin margin.
Investigators say that after his defeat, the coup plotters planned to issue a decree calling for new elections.
The investigators say the plotters also planned to have Lula, his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes – a Bolsonaro arch-foe and one of the judges in the current case – assassinated.
