Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for his alleged 2022 coup attempt following the country’s presidential election.
A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices handed down Bolsonaro’s sentence after convicting him of the attempted coup. Four of the five justices found Bolsonaro guilty on five counts.
Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.
President Donald Trump said it was “very surprising” that Bolsonaro was convicted of the coup.
“I watched that trial. I know him pretty well — foreign leader. I thought he was a good president of Brazil. And it’s very surprising that that could happen,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “That’s very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all. But I can always say this: I knew him as president of Brazil. He was a good man, and I don’t see that happening.”
The judges ruled that Bolsonaro and other figures “implemented a progressive and systematic plan to attack democratic institutions, with the aim of harming the legitimate alternation of power in the 2022 elections.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Bolsonaro’s prosecution a “witch hunt.”
“The political persecutions by sanctioned human rights abuser Alexandre de Moraes continue, as he and others on Brazil’s supreme court have unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro. The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt,” he said.
Bolsonaro has been banned from running for political office until 2030 and is expected to pick a political heir to challenge President Lula Da Silva.
His oldest son, Sen. Falvio Bolsonaro, has called the prosecution of Bolsonaro “SUPREME PERSECUTION” and added that they want to kill him.
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The charges against Bolsonaro carry sentences that could land him decades in prison.
He is expected to appeal the ruling within five days of it being published by the court, which could be up to 60 days from now.
