Buenos Aires, Argentina — Brazil’s former President Jairo Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison on Thursday for his attempt to plot a coup that would have kept him in power following his loss to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the 2022 election. The country’s Supreme Court had found him guilty just hours earlier, with four of five justices voting for his conviction.
The conviction signifies the first successful prosecution of a coup perpetrator in Brazil’s long history of attempts to overthrow the government. It is a major step forward for the country which never tried the military for their crimes during a bloody 21-year dictatorship that ended in 1985.
A majority vote was needed to convict Bolsonaro and the decisive third vote was cast by Justice Cármen Lúcia, who found him guilty of crimes including: leading an armed criminal organization; attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law; and two more charges related to the damage of property during his supporters’ attack on government buildings in Brasília on January 8, 2023.
The Supreme Court also convicted seven co-conspirators, including high-ranking military officers.
Evidence uncovered throughout the investigation showed that the coup plot included the assassinations of President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva, and his then running-mate Gerlado Alckmin, as well as the imprisonment of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Bolsonaro sought to gain the military’s support for the coup, but was rejected by the leaders of the Army and the Air Force.
Lawyers for the 70-year-old politician, who is friendly with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, are expected to request house arrest due to his recurrent health problems since being stabbed on the campaign trail in 2018. Bolsonaro has already been under house arrest for the past month for allegedly encouraging attacks on the Supreme Court and foreign intervention amidst the highly divisive trials.
Bolsonaro himself won the presidency in 2018 following front-runner Lula’s conviction on corruption charges that were subsequently overturned.
Lula’s government is now reportedly preparing for further retribution by President Trump, a firm supporter of Bolsonaro. Following his conviction, President Trump said of Bolsonaro, “… I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it’s very surprising that that could happen. It’s very much like what they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all.”
The U.S. had already imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil and placed severe sanctions on Justice Moraes in an attempt to intervene with the trial. Following the conviction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that “the United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt.”
Featured Image: Former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press after being declared a defendant (photo credit: Lula Marques/Agência Brasil)
