Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced Thursday to 27 years and three months in prison after being found guilty by the Supreme Court of leading an attempted coup against current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva following the 2022 elections.
The decision makes the right-wing leader the third head of state convicted in this country, but the first to be tried for an attack on democracy.
Although the judges had planned to hand down the sentences in a session reserved for this Friday, the First Chamber decided to immediately move on to the sentencing phase once the hearing concluded, in which, by four votes to one, it declared Bolsonaro and seven other officials guilty, including former ministers and former members of the armed forces.
Bolsonaro and the other detainees were found guilty of crimes against democracy, such as attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d'état, criminal organization, damage to protected property, and aggravated damage.
According to Judge Alexandre de Moraes, Bolsonaro was the"leader" of a "criminal organization" that conspired to try to prevent the current president from assuming power. The coup plot reportedly included a plan to assassinate Lula da Silva.
"The Prosecutor's Office successfully described an armed criminal organization, hierarchically structured and focused on pursuing a project" centered on "President Bolsonaro's continued power, regardless of the criminal method used," said the president of the First Chamber, Cristiano Zanin.
Before Bolsonaro, the first sentence announced was that of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, the former president's aide-de-camp, who was sentenced to two years in open prison for having collaborated with the courts by testifying against the other suspects.
This is how the coup attempt in Brazil was constructed, according to the Prosecutor's Office
The plot, according to investigators, began to take shape in 2021. The Prosecutor's Office specifically cited July 29, 2021, when Bolsonaro launched a campaign to discredit the electoral process and the judiciary in a live broadcast on his social media.
That offensive, according to the investigation, took place just months after the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, regained his political rights after having his corruption convictions annulled and when he began leading in the polls ahead of the 2022 elections.
The plot, according to the investigating judge, sought to create a narrative against democratic institutions, which was complemented by the massive dissemination of fake news, to justify the constitutional breakdown in the future.
After his defeat in the second round of the presidential election was confirmed, Bolsonaro and his team sought to prevent Lula's inauguration"at all costs."
To this end, they drafted model decrees to impose exceptional measures, dismantle the Electoral Court, arrest various officials, and maintain their power.
They also monitored political opponents and even planned the assassination of Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin, and Judge De Moraes himself.
While Bolsonaro sought to reverse his defeat at the polls in the offices, his supporters sought to sow chaos in the streets, according to the Supreme Court, with roadblocks and attacks on the police.
But the most serious episode occurred on January 8, 2023, a week after Lula's inauguration, when thousands of radicals invaded and vandalized the presidential, congressional, and Supreme Court buildings to force a military intervention. This was, according to the Supreme Court, the final attempt at the plot"led" by Bolsonaro.
Polarized Brazilian society is divided between those who consider the trial an exercise in defending democracy and those who cite partisan motivations.
