Ex-leader of Brazil Bolsonaro gives up his passport due to a coup investigation

Brazil's ex-President Jair Bolsonaro has surrendered his passport as the investigation continues into the 2023 storming of Brazil's Congress by his supporters.

Police accuse him of having led a failed plot to remain in power after losing the election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Mr Bolsonaro says the operation is politically motivated.

Three of Mr Bolsonaro's allies have been arrested.

The head of his political party has also been detained.

They are suspected of plotting to keep Mr Bolsonaro in power following his election defeat in October 2022.

Police accuse them of spreading doubts about the electoral system, which became a rallying cry for his supporters, who claimed the election was stolen from Mr Bolsonaro.

Police claim that this created the conditions for a possible coup. On January 8, 2023, however, his irate followers assaulted Congress, the Supreme Court headquarters, and the presidential residence when it failed to get the backing of the armed forces.
At the time of the attack on Congress, Mr. Bolsonaro was in the US.
He refuted any misconduct on Thursday.
In response to police searches at numerous locations, Mr. Bolsonaro stated, "I left the government more than a year ago and I continue to suffer relentless persecution," when contacted by the Brazilian newspaper Folha.
"Ignore me. He continued, "There is already another person in charge of the nation.
The former leader's attorney stated that his client would abide by the directive to turn in his passport.
Two months after the Congress stormed, in March 2023, the former president returned to Brazil and declared, although facing several probes, that he had nothing to fear.

He was barred from holding public office for eight years in June for raising erroneous concerns about Brazil's computerized voting system.
However, the investigation into the events of January 8, 2023, has garnered the most attention.
Although the Brazilian federal police provided little details regarding the operation they conducted on Thursday, they did state that the target of their attention was a "criminal organization involved in the attempted coup."
Fewer than twelve of the more than 1,400 persons who have been accused for their alleged involvement in the riots during the past year have been found guilty.