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Brazil’s Supreme Court convicted ex-president Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday of coup plotting by a four-to-one vote in a landmark case that could land the far-right leader in prison for years.
A majority of four judges found the 70-year-old guilty of plotting to claw back power after his defeat in October 2022 elections by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In August, a Brazilian judge placed Bolsonaro under house arrest for breaking a social media ban, escalating a dramatic standoff between the court and the politician, who is accused of plotting a coup.
President Donald Trump described Bolsonaro’s conviction on Thursday as “very surprising”.
Trump had sought to punish Brazil, a longtime US ally, for what he sees as a politically motivated “witch hunt” targeting Bolsonaro by imposing eye-watering tariffs on Latin America’s biggest economy.
The 70-year-old Bolsonaro is banned from social media for the duration of the proceedings, and third parties are barred from sharing his public remarks.
The former Brazilian leader (2019-2022) was also barred from receiving visitors, apart from his lawyers, and from using mobile phones, and warned that any new transgression would lead to his detention.
Prosecutors say he and seven co-accused tried to overturn his 2022 election defeat in a plot that only failed because the military did not get on board.
Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed Brazil’s congress in January 2023, after Lula was inaugurated, ransacking the chambers and attacking police, in scenes reminiscent of an attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol two years before.
Despite being barred from running, Bolsonaro had hoped to mount a Trump-style comeback in Brazil’s 2026 presidential election.
Lula, 79, has said he may seek a fourth term, health permitting.
AFP
