Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president, has been given a jail sentence of 27 years and 3 months by his nation’s Supreme Court, thus making him the first ever Brazilian President to be convicted in a coup trial.
Bolsonaro was convicted in a 4-1 vote by a panel of SC judges after being accused of several crimes as part of a plot to stage a coup to stay in power after losing the 2022 election. More importantly, the conviction represents a powerful reprimand to one of the world’s most prominent far-right populist leaders and follows legal condemnations for other far-right leaders this year, including France’s Marine Le Pen and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte.
As expected, Bolsonaro’s conviction hasn’t gone down too well with his close ally - US President Donald Trump. When asked by reporters, Trump stated he was surprised by the sentence because Bolsonaro “was a good president of Brazil”. Trump, afterall, is one of the few people who can empathise with Bolsonaro’s situation because of his own similar legal troubles arising from the January 6, 2021 insurrection at US’ Capitol building.
Remember, Trump had already called the case a “witch hunt”. Furthermore, Trump, in retaliation, hit Brazil with 50% tariffs - with India the only other such recipient. Additionally, the Trump administration issued sanctions against Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and others as well as revoked visas for most of the high court justices. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a post on X, reiterated that stance and condemned the ruling calling it “unjust” and that “the US will respond accordingly to this witch hunt”.
Expectedly, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling Rubio’s comment a threat that “attacks Brazilian authority and ignores the facts and the compelling evidence in the records”. Moreover, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reiterated that he does not fear new sanctions from the US.
Obviously, the former army captain and veteran congressman is going to want to appeal the ruling. The question is - does he stand a chance?
As mentioned earlier, the verdict was not unanimous. Justice Luiz Fux broke rank with his peers by acquitting the former president of all charges and questioned the court’s jurisdiction. That dissenting vote could lead to challenges to the ruling - most likely pushing the trial’s conclusion closer to Brazil’s presidential election in October next year, something that Bolsonaro is adamant he will be a part of despite being barred from running for office.
