By Ludmila Cassio
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), the country's highest court, has ordered the return of three firearms, 48 rounds of ammunition and three passports to retired Army general Estevam Cals Theophilo Gaspar de Oliveira. The Federal Police (PF) seized the items in 2024, and they were held throughout the investigation into the alleged coup attempt after the 2022 elections. The decision, reported on November 3, 2026, grants a request from the general's defense team.
What goes back to General Theophilo
The list is detailed. The firearms are a Taurus pistol with 31 rounds, a Colt .45-caliber pistol with another 17, and a Rossi .38-caliber revolver that was seized without ammunition. According to the PF record, the Colt bore the inscription "Exército Brasileiro" (Brazilian Army).
Moraes also authorized the return of two regular passports and one official passport. The documents had been in the authorities' custody since the 2024 search operations. With the decision, the items are no longer held under the measures of the investigative phase.
The first defendant acquitted in the coup-plot case
Theophilo was the first defendant acquitted in the case. At the trial in November 2025, the STF concluded that the evidence presented by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) was not enough to convict him.
The prosecution had claimed that the general took part in efforts against the democratic order, gave his approval to coup plans and encouraged then-president Jair Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (PL), to sign a decree that would have allowed an institutional rupture.
Notably, it was Moraes himself who voted for acquittal. According to the justice, there were only two pieces of evidence against the officer, both produced by Bolsonaro's former aide-de-camp, Lt. Col. Mauro Cid.
"In dubio pro reo": Moraes' reasoning
Explaining his vote, Moraes invoked the principle that reasonable doubt favors the defendant. "We know that, where there is reasonable doubt as to the defendant's guilt, here, at this moment, in dubio pro reo. As for the defendant, my vote is for acquittal for lack of evidence. Not for lack of authorship, for nonexistence of materiality, but for lack of evidence," he said.
In questioning before the STF in July 2025, Theophilo confirmed he attended a meeting with Bolsonaro. He said the meeting took place at the request of the then Army commander, General Marco Antônio Freire Gomes, and that it did not deal with a coup.
Why it matters
The case is part of the wider proceedings over the alleged coup plot after the 2022 election, which Bolsonaro, Brazil's president from 2019 to 2022, lost. With the return of the items, Theophilo's case effectively comes to a close. The general, who had weapons and documents held for more than a year, recovers what belongs to him.
The decision is likely to fuel debate over the weight of evidence in the other coup-plot cases, since the only defendant acquitted so far was cleared precisely for lack of solid evidence.
VDD Analysis
The Theophilo case illustrates what the Brazilian right has long argued: a serious accusation requires solid proof, and the presumption of innocence cannot be an exception. A general was charged, had his guns and passports seized and spent more than a year under suspicion, only to be acquitted for lack of evidence, based on two points tied to a single witness. Returning his property is the bare minimum, but the question remains about the cost of broad investigations when the evidence is weak.
