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Former President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil oversaw a broad conspiracy to hold on to power<\/a> regardless of the results of the 2022 election, including personally editing a proposed order to arrest a Supreme Court justice, according to accusations unveiled on Thursday by the Brazilian federal police.<\/p>\n Mr. Bolsonaro and dozens of top aides, ministers and military leaders worked together to undermine the Brazilian public\u2019s faith in the election and set the stage for a potential coup, the federal police said.<\/p>\n Their efforts included spreading disinformation about voter fraud, drafting legal arguments for new elections, recruiting military personnel to support a coup, surveilling judges and encouraging and guiding protesters who eventually raided government buildings, police said.<\/p>\n The explosive allegations were contained in a 134-page court order that authorized a sweeping federal police operation on Thursday that targeted Mr. Bolsonaro and about two dozen of his political allies, including Brazil\u2019s former defense minister, former national security adviser, former justice minister and former head of the Navy. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The operation involved search warrants and arrest warrants for four people, including two Army officers and two of Mr. Bolsonaro\u2019s former top aides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Bolsonaro was ordered to hand over his passport, to remain in the country, and to have no contact with any other people under investigation.<\/p>\n Mr. Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he was the innocent victim of a politically motivated operation.<\/p>\n \u201cI left the government more than a year ago and I continue to suffer relentless persecution,\u201d the former president told Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/a>, a Brazilian newspaper. \u201cForget about me. There is already someone else running the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Bolsonaro has already been ruled ineligible to run for office<\/a> until 2030 over his attempts to undermine the voting systems. Now he could be facing arrest and criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n Mr. Lula said in a radio interview on Thursday that he hoped the investigation into Mr. Bolsonaro would be fair and impartial. \u201cWhat I want is for Bolsonaro to have the presumption of innocence, which I didn\u2019t have,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Lula served 580 days in prison<\/a> on corruption charges that were later annulled after Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court ruled that the judge in his cases had been biased.<\/p>\n The accusations unveiled on Thursday lay out how the former president and his allies tried to subvert Brazil\u2019s young democracy, including alarming details for a country that was ruled by a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.<\/p>\n In one moment in November 2022, after Mr. Bolsonaro lost the election but was still president, Filipe Martins, a top aide, brought him a draft of a legal document claiming that Brazil\u2019s Supreme Court had illegally interfered in the executive branch\u2019s affairs, according to federal police. The document ordered the arrest of two Supreme Court justices and the Senate president and called for new elections, the police said.<\/p>\n Mr. Bolsonaro ordered changes to the document so that it called for the arrest of only one of the Supreme Court justices, police said. Once the document was updated, Mr. Bolsonaro called top military leaders to the presidential residence to present them with the document and push for a coup, the police said. The result of that meeting was unclear.<\/p>\n