Brazil’s Supreme Court has convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 election defeat, in a landmark ruling delivered Thursday. The court voted 4–1 against the far-right leader, a decision that could see him face years in prison if upheld on appeal.
A majority of four judges ruled that the 70-year-old conspired to overturn the victory of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s veteran leftist leader, who returned to office in January 2023. Prosecutors said Bolsonaro and seven allies drafted decrees to nullify the vote and leaned on military commanders to endorse their claims of fraud — allegations that were never substantiated.
The verdict follows a string of humiliations for the far-right former president. In August, a judge ordered him into house arrest for breaching a social media ban, barring him from mobile phones and visitors beyond his lawyers. Any further violation, the court warned, would trigger detention.
Bolsonaro’s downfall has reverberated abroad. Former U.S. president Donald Trump, once his closest ideological ally, denounced Thursday’s ruling as “very surprising” and hit Brazil with steep tariffs, framing the case as a political “witch hunt.”
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At home, the conviction closes off what Bolsonaro had hoped would be a Trump-style resurgence in the 2026 elections. Already disqualified from holding office until 2030, he now faces sentencing that could add years behind bars.
The shadow of the January 2023 riot — when his supporters stormed Congress, tore through chambers and clashed with police in scenes echoing Washington’s Capitol siege — looms large over the proceedings. Prosecutors maintain it was the inevitable spillover of his failed power grab.
Lula, now 79, has hinted he may run again if his health allows. Bolsonaro’s legal future, by contrast, will be decided not in the ballot box but in the courtroom.