Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison after being found guilty of attempting to stage a coup to remain in power following his 2022 electoral defeat to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday by a special panel of the Supreme Federal Court in Brasília. Four of the five justices voted to convict the 70-year-old former leader on five charges, including attempting to violently abolish the democratic rule of law, participating in an armed criminal organisation, organising a coup, and damaging government property and protected cultural assets. Justice Luiz Fux issued the sole dissenting vote, questioning the court’s jurisdiction over the case.
Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, is currently under house arrest in the capital, having been deemed a flight risk. He did not attend the sentencing in person. The court also barred him from holding public office until 2033, extending an earlier ban imposed in a separate case.
Prosecutors argued that Bolsonaro began plotting to overturn the election result well before the vote, seeking military support to prevent the transfer of power and spreading unfounded claims about the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system. The alleged conspiracy culminated in the 8 January 2023 storming of government buildings in Brasília by his supporters, an event the court described as a grave threat to the country’s democratic order.
Bolsonaro’s legal team denounced the sentence as “absurdly excessive” and confirmed plans to appeal. Legal experts noted that overturning the conviction would be difficult, as Brazilian law typically requires at least two dissenting votes for such appeals to succeed.
The verdict has drawn sharp international reaction. United States President Donald Trump, a longstanding ally of Bolsonaro, told reporters outside the White House that he was “very unhappy” with the decision, describing the former Brazilian leader as “outstanding” and calling the conviction “very bad for Brazil”. Trump has previously criticised the proceedings as a “witch hunt” and imposed trade tariffs on Brazilian goods in response to earlier developments in the case.
Brazil’s foreign ministry rejected criticism from Washington, stating that the conviction was based on compelling evidence and that threats from foreign officials would not intimidate the country’s democratic institutions.
Bolsonaro now faces the prospect of spending the remainder of his life in prison unless his appeals succeed, marking a dramatic fall for a figure who once commanded a powerful conservative movement in Latin America’s largest democracy.
