Key Points
- Jair Bolsonaro has been convicted by Brazil's Supreme Court of plotting a coup after his 2022 election loss.
- Four judges found him guilty of five crimes, including leading a criminal organisation.
- Bolsonaro's US ally Donald Trump said hours after the conviction that he was surprised by it.
A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices has sentenced former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison after convicting him of attempting a coup after his 2022 electoral defeat.
Bolsonaro became the first former president in the country's history to be convicted for attacking democracy when four out of five justices found him guilty on five counts on Friday.
"This criminal case is almost a meeting between Brazil and its past, its present, and its future," justice Carmen Lucia said before she voted to convict Bolsonaro of attempting a coup, a reference to previous attempts to overthrow democracy in the country's history.
There was ample evidence, she added, that Bolsonaro acted "with the purpose of eroding democracy and institutions”.
Three judges so far have voted to convict the former president of five crimes: taking part in an armed criminal organisation, attempting to violently abolish democracy, organising a coup, and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.
What led to this point?
Jair Bolsonaro's political journey began in the 1980s as a city politician after a brief career as an army paratrooper.
He went on to be elected as a congressman in Brasilia, where he quickly became known for his defence of authoritarian-era policies.
Burning anti-establishment anger helped lay the path for his successful 2018 presidential run, with dozens of far-right and conservative lawmakers elected on his coattails.
Bolsonaro's presidency was marked by intense scepticism about the pandemic and vaccines and his embrace of informal mining and land-clearing for cattle grazing, pushing deforestation rates in the Amazon rainforest to record highs.
Bolsonaro is accused of plotting with allies to stage a coup against the government of his progressive successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, following his 2022 election defeat.
According to the prosecution, he had planned to impose a state of emergency and call new elections — but he was unable to win the support of the military leadership.
On 8 January 2023, supporters of the populist politician stormed Congress, the Supreme Federal Court and the presidential palace in Brasília.
In 2023, Brazil's electoral court, which oversees elections, barred him from public office until 2030 for venting unfounded claims about Brazil's electronic voting system.
Bolsonaro's trial has divided Brazil, with some people backing the process against the former president while others still support him.
Some have taken to the streets to back the far-right leader, who contends he is being politically persecuted.
What could happen next?
Bolsonaro is currently under house arrest in Brasilia. He can appeal the sentence.
Lawyers for Bolsonaro have said they will appeal the verdict to the full Supreme Court of 11 justices.
Bolsonaro's close ally, US President Donald Trump, said hours after the conviction that he was surprised by it.
Trump, who had earlier criticised the case as a "witch hunt", told reporters as he was departing the White House that he had always found Bolsonaro to be "outstanding".
Donald Trump has called the trial of his ally Jair Bolsonaro a "witch hunt". Source: Getty / Chris Kleponis / Pool
Trump had already hit Brazil with tariff hikes, sanctions against the presiding judge, and the revocation of visas for most members of Brazil's high court.
Bolsonaro's son, Brazilian congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, told Reuters on Thursday he expects additional US sanctions against Brazilian officials following his father's conviction.
"We are going to have a firm response with actions from the US government against this dictatorship that is being installed in Brazil," he said in an interview.
Eduardo Bolsonaro warned that Supreme Court justices who voted to convict the former president could face sanctions under the Magnitsky Act, which was previously applied by the Trump administration against justice Alexandre de Moraes, the judge overseeing the case.
"If these Supreme Court justices keep following Moraes, they also run the risk of facing the same sanction," he said.
The verdict was not unanimous, with justice Luiz Fux on Wednesday breaking with his peers by acquitting the former president of all charges — the only dissenter.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux broke with his peers by acquitting the former president of all charges. Source: AAP / Antonio Lacerda
Fux's vote also ignited a surge of righteous relief among the former president's supporters, who hailed it as a vindication.
Bolsonaro's conviction marks a low in his trajectory from the back benches of Congress to forge a powerful conservative coalition that tested the limits of the country's young democratic institutions.
His conviction and its durability will now emerge as a powerful test for the strategy that Brazil's highest-ranking judges have adopted to protect the country’s democracy against what they describe as dangerous attacks by the far-right.
Their targets included social media posts that they say spread disinformation about the electoral system, as well as politicians and activists.
The cases were largely led by Moraes, appointed to the court by a conservative president in 2017, whose stance against Bolsonaro and his allies was celebrated by the left and denounced by the right as political persecution
The Supreme Court panel also ruled to convict Bolsonaro's seven allies, including five military officers.
The verdict marks the first time since Brazil became a republic almost 140 years ago that military officials have been punished for attempting to overthrow democracy.
