Brazilian Police Accuse Bolsonaro of Plotting a Coup

The Brazilian authorities announced on Thursday that they were recommending criminal charges against former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro over his role in a broad plot to cling to power after he lost the 2022 presidential election.

The accusations sharply escalate Mr. Bolsonaro’s legal troubles and highlight the extent of what the authorities have called an organized attempt to subvert Brazil’s democracy. After Mr. Bolsonaro narrowly lost to the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist, he refused to acknowledge defeat but left office anyway.

Brazil’s federal police urged prosecutors to charge Mr. Bolsonaro and three dozen others, including members of his inner circle, for the crimes of “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état and criminal organization.”

The police did not provide any specifics about Mr. Bolsonaro’s actions that led to their recommendations.

The charges are the culmination of a sweeping two-year investigation in which police raided homes and offices, arrested senior aides to Mr. Bolsonaro and secured confessions and plea deals with people involved in the plot.

The announcement comes two days after four members of an elite military unit, including a former top aide to Mr. Bolsonaro, were arrested and accused of planning to assassinate Mr. Lula shortly before he took office in January 2023.