Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for orchestrating a military coup aimed at “annihilating” democracy in the country.
Judges Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha and Cristiano Zanin delivered their verdict on Thursday, ruling that the former army paratrooper, who was elected president in 2018, had tried to cling to power by force despite losing the 2022 presidential election.
Announcing the verdict, Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court said: “[He tried to] annihilate the essential pillars of the democratic rule-of-law state … the greatest consequence [of which] … would have been the return of dictatorship to Brazil.“
The judges also sentenced several of Bolsonaro’s close allies, including former defence ministers Netto and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, former institutional security minister Augusto Heleno and former navy commander Almir Garnier Santos.
Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s son, called the ruling a political persecution, while Donald Trump said he was surprised by the conviction.
