Brazil’s ex-president Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for coup plot
Brazil’s former president Bolsonaro has been jailed for 27 years and three months after being found guilty of plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election.
Bolsonaro was standing trial over allegations he plotted a coup to overthrow Brazil’s current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which he denied.
Though the coup failed, his far-right supporters stormed government buildings on January 8, 2023 - a week after Lula da Silva’s inauguration.
The far-right former president will now face 27 years in prison after a majority of justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court found him guilty of conspiring to keep himself in power, after his left-wing opponent Lula da Silva won the presidency.
The attempted coup didn’t go ahead in the end as the 70-year-old failed to garner enough support from the military and air force - though the navy commander pledged his allegiance to the far-right populist leader.
Three out of five justices found Bolsonaro guilty. One acquitted the populist former leader, and one is yet to vote, but the majority was enough to convict him.
The initial charges were levelled by prosecutor-general Paulo Gonet, who accused Bolsonaro and 33 others of attempting a coup that included a plan to poison his successor and kill a Supreme Court judge.
Seven of Bolsonaro’s closest allies have also been ordered to stand trial on five counts: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organisation, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, damage characterized by violence and a serious threat against the state’s assets, and deterioration of listed heritage.
They included the former Navy commander, Adm Almir Garnier Santos; former defence ministers Netto and Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; and institutional security minister Gen Augusto Heleno.
Bolsonaro had maintained his innocence and has repeatedly characterized the trial as a ’witch hunt’.
US President Donald Trump, an ally of the former populist leader, has echoed this language. Trump has been stirring up tensions with Brazil, including threatening high economic tariffs on the country.
Speaking to reporters after Bolsonaro’s guilty verdict was announced, the US president said it was "very bad for Brazil”.
The US president has previously also accused Brazilian justices of conducting a "witch hunt" against Bolsonaro and threatened to impose a 50% tax on goods made in the South American country.
In the letter, Trump called the 50% rate "necessary ... to rectify the grave injustices of the current regime".
Ahead of the 2022 election, Bolsonaro repeatedly alleged that the election system, which does not use paper ballots, could be tampered with.
The top electoral court later ruled that he had abused his power to cast unfounded doubt on the voting system and ruled him ineligible for office until 2030.
Still, he has maintained that he will stand as a candidate in the 2026 race.
Since Bolsonaro left office, he has been targeted by several investigations alongside the coup plot, all of which he has chalked up to political persecution.
Federal police have accused him of smuggling diamond jewellery into Brazil without properly declaring them and directing a subordinate to falsify his and others’ Covid-19 vaccination statuses.
Bolsonaro had left for the United States days before Lula’s inauguration on January 1, 2023 and stayed there for three months, keeping a low profile.
A police report later alleged he was seeking to avoid possible imprisonment related to the coup plot, and also await the uprising that took place a week later.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
