Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting coup in Brazil

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s populist former president, has been sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for masterminding a plot to cling to office that proposed murdering his successor and seizing emergency powers.

Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” for his forthright and sometimes abrasive style, is set to spend the rest of his life behind bars after the country’s supreme court found him guilty of attempting to subvert democracy following his failed re-election bid in 2022.

A majority of the five judges hearing the case concluded that Bolsonaro and seven senior aides effectively attempted a coup after refusing to accept defeat to his left-wing nemesis Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, better known simply as “Lula”.

Later on Thursday, he was sentenced by the court to 27 years and three months in jail.

The case centred partly on whether Bolsonaro instigated riots in which thousands of loyalists stormed Brazil’s Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court in Brasilia.

But prosecutors also examined a lurid conspiracy, hatched by his associates, to poison Lula, declare an emergency and run Brazil with the support of a military council that would oversee new elections.

The case has plunged relations with the United States into crisis after Donald Trump tried to force Bolsonaro’s acquittal, slapping sanctions on the judges and tariffs on Brazilian exports.

Following the verdict, Mr Trump said he was “surprised”, while Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, promised that America would respond, branding the conviction a “witch hunt”.

Bolsonaro had denied knowledge of “Operation Green and Yellow Dagger”, the codename for the plot. He admitted that aides had discussed extraordinary measures, including an emergency decree to suspend the result, but insisted none were enacted and nothing illegal was attempted.

Those arguments were dismissed by Carmen Lucia, whose decisive vote sealed Bolsonaro’s fate. The prosecution, she told the court, had proved he led a group that “developed and implemented a systematic plan of attack on democratic institutions with the aim of obstructing the legitimate transition of power.”

“He was not dragged into this scenario of violence,” she said. “He was the leader, the instigator who drove the plan towards its objective of seizing power. There is overwhelming evidence pointing to plans for the seizure of power that went beyond mere ideas or private conversations.”

The saga has gripped Brazil, reviving memories of an era of military dictatorship many hoped was buried.

The case has also provoked fury from the White House. Mr Trump saw Bolsonaro as his South American mirror image and regarded the case as a reflection of his own battles with a liberal establishment he claimed was bent on thwarting his mandate. Both men lost elections. — Mr Trump in 2020, Bolsonaro in 2022 — and both claim fraud.

In January 2023, weeks after Bolsonaro’s defeat, thousands of his loyalists tore through Brazil’s capital in a six-hour rampage. They stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the Federal Supreme Court, smashing windows, destroying artefacts and even defecating on carpets.

Bolsonaro insists the insurrection was spontaneous, leaderless and fuelled by pro-Lula infiltrators — an echo of the US Capitol riot almost exactly two years earlier, which Mr Trump also denies orchestrating.

Investigators said the riots were part of a broader conspiracy after uncovering details of Operation Green and Yellow Dagger, named after Brazil’s national colours, on a device belonging to one of Bolsonaro’s senior advisers.

The scheme envisaged killing Lula, his running-mate Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a Bolsonaro adversary who oversaw his prosecution. Under the scheme, Mr Bolsonaro would then invoke emergency powers while a military “crisis cabinet” prepared fresh elections.

Brazil’s army and air force chiefs testified that Mr Bolsonaro’s aides sought their support, but they refused.

Despite this, investigators said special-forces hitmen were recruited, with assassinations planned for New Year’s Eve 2022, the day before Lula’s inauguration.

Their first target was Justice de Moraes, who was to be ambushed outside his home. When the assassins lost track of his movements, the mission was aborted and the conspiracy collapsed.

Mr Trump denounced the trial as a “witch hunt” and an “international disgrace”. Having already imposed 50 per cent tariffs— the joint highest his administration has levied on any country — he may now escalate.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, this week even raised the possibility of military action against Brazil in the event of a guilty verdict, deepening the crisis between the two most populous nations in the Americas.

“This is a priority for the administration,” she said. “The president is unafraid to use the economic might, the military might of the United States to protect free speech around the world.”

Justice Lucia, one of three judges out of five on the court who voted to convict, cast the decision as a watershed for a nation that has endured numerous coups since independence in 1822 and lived under military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985 — a period Bolsonaro has openly admired.

Justice Luis Fux voted to acquit, arguing the case should have been tried in the lower courts before reaching the full bench of 11 justices, a dissension that potentially paves the way for an appeal.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers said on Thursday night that they intend to appeal, “including at the international level”, for sentences they said were “incredibly excessive and disproportionate”.

He is unlikely to begin his prison sentence until all appeals have been exhausted, most likely early next year. He will remain under house arrest in the meantime.

The former president’s allies insist the process was political theatre. His son Eduardo, who lobbied Mr Trump to intervene, told The Telegraph the verdict was predetermined.

“The court is not competent,” he said. “One judge is the supposed victim, two others have conflicts of interest. Evidence was obtained through fishing expeditions.

“One plea bargain was extracted under coercion. The proceedings were rushed, with the defence denied access to evidence. There is nothing linking my father to any criminal conduct. It’s a complete farce.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]