Brazil's Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years after landmark coup plot conviction

BRASILIA — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced on Thursday to 27 years and three months in prison hours after being convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election, dealing a powerful rebuke to one of the world’s most prominent far-right populist leaders

BRASILIA — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced on Thursday to 27 years and three months in prison hours after being convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election, dealing a powerful rebuke to one of the world’s most prominent far-right populist leaders.

The conviction ruling by a panel of five justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court, who also agreed on the sentence, made the 70-year-old Bolsonaro the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted for attacking democracy, and drew disapproval from the Trump administration.

“This criminal case is almost a meeting between Brazil and its past, its present and its future,” Justice Carmen Lucia said before her vote to convict Bolsonaro, referring to a history checkered with military coups and attempts to overthrow democracy.

There was ample evidence that Bolsonaro, who is currently under house arrest, acted “with the purpose of eroding democracy and institutions,” she added.

Four of the five judges voted to convict the former president of five crimes: taking part in an armed criminal organization; attempting to violently abolish democracy; organizing a coup; and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.