Jair Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting Brazil coup

The former president has been found guilty of trying to mount coup to cling to power after he lost the election.

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A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence just hours after they had convicted the former leader.

They ruled he was guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Four of the justices found him guilty while one voted to acquit him. Bolsonaro's lawyers have called the sentence "absurdly excessive" and said that they would file "the appropriate appeals".

The Supreme Court panel also barred him from running for public office until 2060 - eight years after the end of his sentence.