Brazil’s Supreme Court has sentenced former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison after finding him guilty of plotting to overthrow his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, following the 2022 presidential election.
The landmark ruling, delivered on Thursday after a tense four-day trial, divided the country and sparked sharp reactions from the United States. Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro, with prosecutors arguing that the attempted coup only failed because senior military officials withheld their support.
Bolsonaro’s defense described the sentence as “incredibly excessive” and vowed to appeal the ruling, both domestically and internationally.
The conviction drew swift criticism from Washington, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denouncing the verdict as a politically motivated “witch hunt.” Brazil’s foreign ministry fired back, insisting the country would not be intimidated by external “threats.”
Former U.S. president Donald Trump also weighed in, describing the ruling as “very surprising” and praising Bolsonaro as a “good president” and a “good man,” while comparing his legal troubles to his own.
The Supreme Court emphasized that Bolsonaro and his allies had engaged in organized efforts to subvert democracy. Judge Cristiano Zanin, once Lula’s lawyer, said, “An armed criminal organization was formed by the defendants, who must be convicted based on the proven facts.”
Seven of Bolsonaro’s close associates, including former ministers and military chiefs, were also convicted. He was further found guilty of inciting the January 2023 storming of Brazil’s Supreme Court, Congress, and presidential palace by his supporters, just days after Lula’s inauguration.
Bolsonaro did not attend the verdict hearings, following the proceedings instead from his residence in Brasilia, where he remains under house arrest. His son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, called the trial “political persecution” but insisted his father was “holding his head high.”
The case has deepened divisions across Brazil, with supporters of Lula celebrating the ruling as a victory for democracy, while Bolsonaro’s backers condemned it as an unfair show trial.
Bolsonaro now joins a growing list of former Brazilian presidents convicted since the country’s return to democracy in 1985. His sentencing marks one of the most consequential political trials in Brazil’s modern history.