Bolsonaro Gets 27 Years in Prison for Plotting Brazil Coup

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison after being found guilty of plotting a military coup, Ione Wells and Vanessa Buschschluter reported for BBC News.

The Supreme Court ruled that Bolsonaro was guilty of leading a conspiracy to stay in power after losing the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. (Photo: Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom / Agência Brasil Wikimedia Commons)

A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence just hours after convicting the former leader. They ruled he was guilty of leading a conspiracy to stay in power after losing the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Four of the justices voted to convict, while one dissented. Bolsonaro’s lawyers called the sentence “absurdly excessive” and said they would file appeals.

The court also barred him from running for public office until 2033. Bolsonaro, placed under house arrest as a flight risk, did not attend the final phase of the trial in person.