A panel of the Brazilian Supreme Court on Sept. 11 sentenced former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison after convicting him of attempting to overthrow the government following his loss in the country’s 2022 election.
The five-justice court finalized its conviction of Bolsonaro Thursday evening on five counts, including an attempted coup, being part of an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of democratic rule of law, damage characterized by violence, and a serious threat against the state’s assets and deterioration of listed heritage.
The panel then moved quickly to the sentencing phase of the trial, sentencing the former Brazilian president to 27 years and three months in prison. That makes Bolsonaro the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of a coup attempt.
The conviction stems from the aftermath of the 2022 Brazilian presidential election, which included attacks on government buildings by Bolsonaro’s supporters.
Bolsonaro has denied any involvement and said that he is the target of political persecution under the administration of his former competitor, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula.
The conviction, which was approved by four of the five justices overseeing the case, is likely to inflame tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has alleged that the criminal trial is politically motivated persecution and called for Brazil to drop the proceedings.
Asked about the conviction as he left the White House to head for a Yankees baseball game, Trump said he was “very unhappy” with the conviction, and called it “very bad for Brazil.”
“I watched that trial. … I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it’s very surprising that could happen,” Trump said, drawing parallels to the prosecutions he faced under the previous administration for his claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
One member of the court, Justice Luiz Fux, voted to acquit Bolsonaro of all five charges, saying there was insufficient evidence for any of the prosecutors’ claims.
Fux spoke to the court for more than 13 hours to explain his vote. The vote—which could make it easier for Bolsonaro to successfully appeal the conviction later—drew upset looks from other members of the panel.
For Bolsonaro’s supporters, Fux’s vote to acquit came as a relief.
“When coherence and a sense of justice prevail over vengeance and lies, there is no room for cruel persecution or biased judgments,” Michelle Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro’s wife, said in a post online.
The trial began in May and centered around Bolsonaro’s response to his defeat in the country’s 2022 election and his comments about the voting process. Prior to and following the election, Bolsonaro called for the use of paper ballots instead of electronic ballots, saying that electronic voting machines were vulnerable to fraud and manipulation.
On Jan. 8, 2023, a crowd of his supporters attacked several government buildings in Brazil, including the Supreme Court, Congress, and the presidential palace. Bolsonaro, who was residing in Kissimmee, Florida at the time, condemned these attacks the following day in an online statement.
Bolsonaro returned to Brazil in March 2023.
In April 2023, he was ordered to turn himself over for questioning about the Jan. 8 events.
Since then, Bolsonaro has faced mounting legal troubles from the Brazilian government.
In June 2023, he was convicted of abusing power by the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court and was declared ineligible to run again until 2030. In October 2023, the same court convicted him of using Brazil’s Independence Day to promote his candidacy, a violation of Brazilian law.
Formal accusations were brought in November 2024 by police against Bolsonaro and 36 others.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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