Brazil’s Superior Military Court received on Tuesday (Feb. 3) a request from the Military Prosecutor’s Office to expel former President Jair Bolsonaro, three Army generals, and a Navy admiral from the Armed Forces following their conviction in the criminal case related to the coup plot.

The office filed actions seeking the loss of officer rank against Bolsonaro, a reserve Army captain, and reserve generals Augusto Heleno, Paulo Sergio Nogueira, Braga Netto, and Admiral Almir Garnier. All were convicted by the Supreme Court in the criminal case involving the core organizers of the coup plot.

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The measure by the Military Prosecutor’s Office came after the Supreme Court issued the final judgment of the convictions last year, ending the possibility of appeal and ordering the imprisonment of the former president and the other convicts.

According to the Constitution, an officer of the Armed Forces can be expelled following a criminal conviction with a sentence exceeding two years in prison. In the coup plot trial, Bolsonaro and the other defendants received sentences ranging from 19 to 27 years.

If the Superior Military Court decrees the loss of rank, the salaries Bolsonaro and the other military personnel receive will be transferred to their wives or daughters as a pension. This benefit, known as “fictitious death,” has been provided for in Armed Forces legislation since 1960.

The court is composed of 15 ministers: five civilians and ten military personnel, representing the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Judgment

At a press conference, the president of the Superior Military Court, Maria Elisabeth Rocha, explained that the court has no legal deadline for judging the cases.

She said she will schedule the cases for judgment immediately after the rapporteurs release them. According to the internal rules, the president votes only in the event of a tie and always in favor of the defendant in cases involving the loss of officer rank.

“I do not intend to delay the judgment of such important issues submitted to the consideration of this court,” Rocha stated.