Brazil: Ex-president Jair Bolsonaro sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for coup attempt

The verdict is in for Jair Bolsonaro. A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices sentenced the former president to 27 years and 3 months in prison on Thursday, after he was found guilty of plotting a coup in 2022.  

Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup. The former president can still try to appeal the ruling. He is currently under house arrest in Brasilia. 

At the end of a landmark trial, four of the five justices reviewing the case found the far-right politician guilty on five counts: attempting a coup after losing the 2022 race to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a plot that prosecutors alleged included plans to kill Lula; participating in an armed criminal organization; attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law; damage qualified by violence; and deterioration of listed heritage.

One of the justices, Cármen Lúcia, said she was convinced by the evidence the Attorney General's Office presented against the former president. “He is the instigator, the leader of an organization that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power,” she said.

Bolsonaro’s co-conspirators, all of them former Brazilian officials, were also sentenced for their roles in the attempted coup.

Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barroso joined the panel at the end of the session and called the trial a “watershed moment in Brazil’s history.”

The ruling is expected to further deepen political divisions in Brazil. While many welcomed the legal proceedings against the far-right politician, some still back him. Thousands took to the streets of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro last week to show their support.

Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son and a Brazilian senator, said on X the conviction was a “supreme persecution” and that history would show they were on the right side.

The Supreme Court's ruling also prompted criticism from the United States. US President Donald Trump said he was “very unhappy” with the conviction. Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House, he said he'd always found Bolsonaro to be “outstanding.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said on his X account that Trump’s government “will respond accordingly to this witch hunt.”

Trump's administration had already applied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods in July, which he had said was in reaction to the legal proceedings against Bolsonaro.