The defenses of General Walter Braga Netto and General Augusto Heleno filed the final declaration embargos with the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on the night of November 24, 2025, seeking annulment of the process or acquittal for attempted coup d'état. Braga Netto, sentenced to 26 years in prison, claims tribunal incompetence and denial of defense, while Heleno, sentenced to 21 years, cites lack of evidence. These actions take place in the context of trials of the core group of the coup plot involving Jair Bolsonaro's allies.
On the night of Monday, November 24, 2025, the defense of General Walter Braga Netto, former Defense Minister sentenced to 26 years in prison for attempted coup d'état, presented the final infringent embargos to the STF. The document argues tribunal incompetence to judge the case from the start, claiming the process should have proceeded in the first instance. As an alternative, it requests nullity due to the First Panel's incompetence, asking for referral to the Court's Plenary. The lawyers also denounce 'document dump', an overload of documents that would violate the contradictory and broad defense, constitutional guarantees.
On the merits, if the nullities are not accepted, the defense seeks acquittal from all crimes: armed criminal organization (Law 12.850/2013), attempted coup d'état (art. 359-M of the Penal Code), qualified damage by violence and serious threat (art. 163, sole paragraph), and deterioration of listed heritage (Law 9.605/1998). Braga Netto has been in preventive detention since December 14, 2024.
In parallel, the defense of General Augusto Heleno, former Institutional Security Office Minister sentenced to 21 years (18 years and 11 months of reclusion plus 2 years and 1 month of detention and 84 fine days), filed embargos seeking acquittal due to lack of evidence. 'Let the contradictions, omissions, and obscurities be resolved to, with infringent effects, absolve the defendant of the charges against him,' states the petition. The Attorney General's Office (PGR) accuses Heleno of participating in a live spreading false news about electronic ballot boxes and possessing an agenda with notes to discredit them. The conviction occurred in September 2025, as part of the core group alongside Jair Bolsonaro, Alexandre Ramagem, Almir Garnier Santos, Anderson Torres, Mauro Cid, and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira.
These embargos represent the last recourse in the STF before definitive execution of the penalties, amid the trial of the 2022 coup plot to keep Bolsonaro in power after the elections.