Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger.
Prosecutors said the plan failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass.
Bolsonaro’s defense team called the sentence “incredibly excessive” and announced he would appeal, “including at the international level.”
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The conviction of Bolsonaro, a former army captain who never hid his admiration for the military dictatorship that killed hundreds of Brazilians between 1964 and 1985, follows legal condemnations for other far-right leaders this year, including France’s Marine Le Pen and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte.
It may further enrage Bolsonaro’s close ally U.S. President Donald Trump, who had called the case a “witch hunt” and in retaliation hit Brazil with tariff hikes, sanctions against the presiding judge, and the revocation of visas for most of the high court justices.
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