In an unprecedented judgment, Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison.
The conviction came after a Supreme Court panel found him guilty of orchestrating a military coup attempt to cling to power following his 2022 electoral defeat.
A Dark Attempt to Overturn Democracy
Bolsonaro’s plot began even before the votes were fully counted.
He sought to subvert Brazil’s democratic process by conspiring with military commanders to reject the election results.
This conspiracy included shocking allegations: plans to assassinate newly elected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his vice president, and a Supreme Court Justice.
Four of the five justices ruled Bolsonaro guilty on five grave counts.
These include leading an armed criminal organization, attempting to violently dismantle democracy.
Plotting a coup, and damaging public property during the violent January 8, 2023, invasion of government buildings by his supporters.
The Sentence and Political Fallout
The ruling bars Brazil’s ex-president from holding any public office until 2060 a ban extending well beyond his prison term.
Bolsonaro, 70, was placed under house arrest as authorities deemed him a flight risk during the trial’s final phase, which he skipped in person.
His lawyers decry the sentence as “absurdly excessive” and announced plans to appeal.
However, legal experts caution such appeals are unlikely to succeed given the overwhelming majority conviction.
A Troubling Echo of Darker Times
Justice Cármen Lúcia, whose pivotal vote sealed Bolsonaro’s fate, warned Brazil faced a threat to its democratic order resembling past authoritarian shadows.
She described Bolsonaro’s actions as a “virus” spreading through institutions, capable of killing the democratic fabric.
Alexandre de Moraes, the justice leading the trial, painted a stark picture.
According to him, Brazil narrowly escaped a return to military dictatorship.
Halted only by the arrest of more than 1,500 rioters who stormed government sites.
Division at the Court and International Reactions
This single dissenting voice underscores the deep polarization around Bolsonaro’s legacy.
Abroad, the verdict stirred strong responses.
Former US President Donald Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro, called the verdict “very surprising,” likening it to his own legal battles.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the ruling as unjust and pledged a response to what he deemed a “witch hunt.”
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry swiftly rebuffed such remarks, condemning foreign interference and affirming the nation’s judicial independence.
Co-Conspirators and Deep State Crisis
Seven co-conspirators, including former defence ministers, a spy chief, and Bolsonaro’s security chief, were also convicted.
This exposes a profound rot within Brazil’s military and intelligence apparatus that Bolsonaro harnessed in his coup bid.
The failed attempt to summon enough military backing halted the coup from succeeding but left Brazilian democracy scarred and fragile.
Bolsonaro’s Last Stand and What It Means for Brazil
Yet the court’s weighty verdict sends a chilling message: no one is above Brazil’s constitution.
This moment is a reckoning for Brazil. Bolsonaro’s authoritarian gambit endangered a nation still healing from decades of dictatorship.
How Brazil’s government and society respond now will shape the country’s fragile democracy for decades to come.
