Brazil’s Supreme Court Opens Criminal Case Over 2022 Brasília Airport Bomb Plot

Overview

• The STF First Panel voted 4–0 to accept the complaint and open a criminal action against three suspects.
• Those made defendants are George Washington de Oliveira Sousa, Alan Diego dos Santos Rodrigues, and Wellington Macedo de Souza.
• The charges include criminal association, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, attempted coup, and an attack on air transport security.
• The trio had already been convicted by the Distrito Federal court in 2023 for explosion, causing fire, and unauthorized firearm possession, with George Washington sentenced to nine years and four months and Alan Diego to five years and four months, and they remain imprisoned.
• The case arises from an alleged attempt to detonate a tanker truck near Brasília’s airport on December 24, 2022, with the complaint filed by the Prosecutor‑General’s Office and the vote following the opinion of relator Alexandre de Moraes joined by Cristiano Zanin, Cármen Lúcia, and Flávio Dino.