‘Brazil’s Trump’ sentenced to 27 years in prison

In a historic first for Brazil, the jury members of the Supreme Federal Court found former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro guilty of conspiring to stage a coup.

At the same time, Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court announced that Bolsonaro has also been banned from running for public office for eight years.

According to the G1 News outlet, in addition to Bolsonaro, seven of his close aides were also found guilty and sentenced by the Supreme Federal Court.

The news website UOL reported that Bolsonaro’s lawyers have declared their intention to appeal the ruling, including at international tribunals.

Bolsonaro served as Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2023 and became known as the “Trump of Brazil” due to his controversial stances.

He lost the 2022 presidential election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. One week after Lula’s inauguration, on January 8, 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters violently stormed Brazil’s Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace. On that day, police arrested around 2,000 people.

In November 2024, Brazil’s Federal Police accused Bolsonaro and members of his former administration of attempting to overthrow democracy through organizing a coup and running a criminal organization.