Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison by a five-judge panel of the Supreme Court on charges of plotting a military coup. Bolsonaro was found guilty of leading a conspiracy to hold on to power after losing the 2022 presidential election to his leftist rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. According to BBC reports, Bolsonaro's lawyers have described the sentence as excessive and absurd, warning that they will appeal the decision.
Brazil's Supreme Court also banned Bolsonaro from running for public office until 2060. Under house arrest, Bolsonaro was not present in court when the decision was announced.
Following this decision, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, expressed his surprise at the conviction of his former Brazilian counterpart, stating: "I knew him when he was president of Brazil. He is a good man. It is similar to what they have tried to do in my case."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also criticized the decision, saying that “the Brazilian Supreme Court has unjustly decided to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro” and that there will be an appropriate response to what he called a “witch hunt.” Brazil’s Foreign Ministry considered this statement an attack on the authority of the Brazilian judiciary, seeing it as ignoring the evidence presented in court.
After Bolsonaro's historic conviction, his opponents organized parties in the capital, where they sang, set off fireworks and expressed joy over the decision made by the Supreme Court.
