Brazil's Supreme Court Convicts Bolsonaro of Coup Plot, Sentences Former President to 27 Years

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Brazil's Supreme Federal Court on Thursday convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven of his closest allies for orchestrating a coup plot, sentencing the far-right leader to 27 years and three months in prison for a litany of crimes, including armed criminal organization and attempting to violently abolish the democratic rule of law. 

The verdict, which found Bolsonaro and his inner circle guilty of conspiring to overturn the 2022 election results and instigate a military takeover, marks a profound moment of accountability following the violent insurrection of Jan. 8, 2023, when thousands of his supporters stormed the capital.

The judgment was finalized by the First Panel of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in Brasília by a decisive 4-to-1 vote, as reported by Agência Brasil. The court found the defendants guilty on multiple charges, including attempting a coup d'état, qualified damage with violence and a serious threat, and the deterioration of protected national heritage. 

Most of the defendants, who include high-ranking former ministers and military commanders from Bolsonaro's administration, received sentences of more than 20 years in a closed prison regime.

Despite the severity of the sentences, neither Bolsonaro nor the other convicted individuals will be immediately arrested. Under Brazilian law, they retain the right to appeal the decision and seek to have their convictions overturned.

Only after all potential appeals are exhausted and rejected will the arrests be carried out, a legal process that could extend the final resolution of the case.

The sentences handed down by the court reflect the gravity of the charges and the seniority of those involved in the plot.

Walter Braga Netto, a former minister and Bolsonaro's running mate for vice-president in the 2022 election, was sentenced to 26 years. Almir Garnier, the former Commander of the Navy, and Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro's former Minister of Justice, each received 24-year sentences. Augusto Heleno, the former head of the Institutional Security Cabinet, was sentenced to 21 years, while former Minister of Defense Paulo Sérgio Nogueira received a 19-year sentence. Alexandre Ramagem, the former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency and a current federal deputy, was sentenced to 16 years, one month, and 15 days, though some of the accusations against him were suspended due to his parliamentary status.

The only defendant to receive a lenient sentence was Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro's former aide-de-camp, who was given two years in an open regime and guaranteed his freedom as a result of a plea bargain.

The conviction is the culmination of a lengthy and painstaking investigation into the events that led to the Jan. 8, 2023, insurrection.

A week after the inauguration of his left-wing successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, thousands of Bolsonaro's supporters, who had been incited for months by his baseless claims of electoral fraud, stormed and vandalized the Congress building, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace in Brasília. The attack, which bore a striking resemblance to the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, was a direct attempt to provoke a military coup to overthrow the newly elected government.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain who served as president from 2019 to 2023, presided over a deeply polarized and controversial administration. His tenure was marked by conservative social policies, the rolling back of environmental protections in the Amazon, and a widely criticized response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After his narrow defeat to Lula in the 2022 election, Bolsonaro refused to concede gracefully and instead intensified his unfounded attacks on the integrity of Brazil's electronic voting system, fueling a climate of intense unrest among his most fervent supporters.

In November 2024, the Brazilian Federal Police formally accused Bolsonaro and several members of his government of forming a "criminal organization" that had actively plotted to undermine democracy and stage a coup to illegally remain in power.

The investigation uncovered evidence of a wide-ranging conspiracy that allegedly included plans to assassinate President Lula, his vice-president, and a Supreme Court Justice.

Even before these criminal charges were filed, Brazil's top electoral court had already taken action, voting in June 2023 to make Bolsonaro ineligible to run for public office until 2030 for his abuse of power and his relentless attacks on the voting system.

The Supreme Court's verdict on Thursday represents the most significant legal and political reckoning for Bolsonaro and the movement he led. It sends a powerful message that even the highest office in the land does not confer immunity from accountability for attempts to subvert the democratic order.

As the appeals process begins, Brazil and the world will be watching to see the final chapter of a saga that brought one of the world's largest democracies to the brink of collapse.