Seven Handed Lengthy Prison Sentences in Bolsonaro Coup Attempt Trial

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday sentenced seven individuals to prison terms ranging from 7.5 to 17 years over their involvement in the failed coup attempt led by former president Jair Bolsonaro. The verdict marks another chapter in Brazil’s sweeping legal reckoning following the country’s most serious assault on its democratic institutions in decades.

In September, Brazil’s top court convicted Bolsonaro himself, sentencing him to 27 years in prison for orchestrating the attempted coup that followed his 2022 election defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

That earlier ruling also saw seven senior aides to Bolsonaro receive similar convictions for their participation in the effort to overturn the election results.

In the new round of convictions, Justice Alexandre de Moraes announced that the court found seven additional defendants guilty of spreading false information about Brazil’s electronic voting system and conspiring to undermine democratic stability.

The convicted group includes:

• One federal police officer
• Five military personnel
• The president of an independent electoral audit institute

“They fabricated and disseminated false narratives about the electoral process with the aim of generating social chaos and instability to bring about institutional breakdown,”
— Justice Alexandre de Moraes, Brazilian Supreme Court

The newly sentenced individuals were accused of coordinating disinformation campaigns that fuelled unrest and encouraged pro-Bolsonaro mobs to storm government buildings in January 2023.

Each of the defendants has five days to lodge an appeal.

The Bolsonaro prosecutions have triggered a diplomatic rift with the United States, where President Donald Trump — a close ally of Bolsonaro — condemned the Brazilian judiciary’s actions as a “witch hunt.”

In apparent retaliation, the Trump administration has imposed steep tariffs on a range of Brazilian exports, including steel, soybeans, and ethanol.

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador last week to protest against what it described as “foreign interference in a sovereign judicial process.”

Bolsonaro remains under house arrest in Brasília and is prohibited from using social media, pending final publication of his sentence. His legal team is expected to appeal immediately thereafter.

The Supreme Court is also set to deliver verdicts for 16 additional defendants connected to the coup attempt in the coming weeks, signalling that Brazil’s top judges are determined to hold all participants accountable.

“Democracy must not only defend itself but assert itself,”
— Justice Rosa Weber, President of Brazil’s Supreme Court

The trials have underscored Brazil’s sharp political divisions but also reaffirmed the country’s institutional resilience after one of the most turbulent transitions of power in its modern history.