Brazil’s supreme court has sentenced former president Jair Bolsonaro to more than 27 years imprisonment for plotting a coup d’état, after ruling that the hard-right populist sought to illegally retain power after losing a 2022 election.
Four judges on a panel of five found that the 70-year-old ally of US President Donald Trump was guilty of leading a conspiracy involving high-ranking military figures that attempted to overthrow Latin America’s most populous democracy.
The historic case has divided Brazil and provoked the anger of the US president, who called the trial a “witch-hunt” and demanded it be halted.
Prosecutors said the failed putsch involved plans to kill Bolsonaro’s election rival and current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the leftist’s running mate and the supreme court justice overseeing the case, Alexandre de Moraes.