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Agence France-Presse

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial on charges of plotting a coup, in a case that could torpedo his hopes of making a Donald Trump-style political comeback.
The trial would be the first of an ex-leader accused of attempting to take power by force since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985 following two decades of military dictatorship.
A five-judge panel of the Supreme Court voted unanimously to put Bolsonaro on trial after finding there was sufficient evidence against him.
Bolsonaro was not in court for the ruling, but in comments to reporters he condemned the allegations as “unfounded”.

“It seems they have something personal against me,” he said.
If convicted, the 70-year-old former army captain, who had nurtured hopes of standing in elections next year, risked a jail term of over 40 years, and political banishment.
Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, was accused of leading a “criminal organisation” that conspired to keep him in power regardless of the outcome of the 2022 election.
He lost to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by a razor-thin margin.
Investigators have said that after his defeat, but while still in office, the coup plotters planned to declare a state of emergency so that new elections could be held.
He was also accused of being aware of a plot to assassinate Lula, his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes – a Bolsonaro foe and one of the judges in the current case.

“I only hope that justice is served,” Lula told reporters on Thursday morning in Japan.
“He has no way of proving that he is innocent,” Lula said. “Everyone knows what he did.”
Moraes, who has called Bolsonaro a “dictator”, was the first judge to give his findings in Wednesday’s hearing, broadcast live on Brazilian TV.
“There are reasonable indications from the prosecution pointing to Bolsonaro as the leader of the criminal organisation,” he said.
Analysts have said it was unlikely Bolsonaro would be placed in preventive custody, and he would probably stand trial as a free man to avoid perceptions of election interference.
Bolsonaro will be the second former Brazilian president in under a decade to face a criminal trial.

In July 2017, then ex-president Lula was found guilty of corruption.
He spent a year and a half in prison but had his conviction annulled by the Supreme Court and went on to win back the top office.
Bolsonaro was charged with attempting a “coup d’etat”, the “attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law” and “armed criminal organisation”, among other crimes.
The prosecution has said the plot did not come to fruition due to a lack of support from the army high command.
Seven alleged conspirators will be tried alongside the ex-president, including former ministers and an ex-navy commander.
Bolsonaro has insisted he was the victim of a political plot to obstruct his return to power.

Bolsonaro’s political future had already appeared in doubt before Wednesday’s ruling.
He has been disqualified from holding public office until 2030 for having sought to cast doubt on Brazil’s electronic voting system. He had been hoping to have the ban overturned in time to stand in next year’s election.
A conviction for plotting to subvert Brazil’s democracy would likely force the political right to find a new candidate.
Dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” after the US president, his political idol, Bolsonaro has been the target of multiple investigations since his turbulent years as leader of Latin America’s biggest economy.
The latest investigation yielded a dossier of nearly 900 pages.
It also mentions the disturbances of January 8, 2023, when thousands of Bolsonaro’s backers stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court demanding the military oust Lula a week after his inauguration.
Bolsonaro was in the United States at the time and has said he condemned the “violent acts” committed that day.
He has consistently compared his fate to that of his “friend” Trump, who returned to the White House this year despite his own legal troubles and after a similar storming of the US Capitol by his supporters in January 2021.
“I am not dead yet,” he told reporters Wednesday in Brasilia, insisting the candidate for the right in next year’s vote “will be Bolsonaro”.
Police investigating the alleged coup plot confiscated Bolsonaro’s passport last year.


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Brazil’s Bolsonaro ordered to stand trial for attempted coup

Americas and the Caribbean

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the media after leaving the Senate building in Brasilia on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Inside the Brazilian Supreme Court on Wednesday. Photo: Brazilian Supreme Court via AFP

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Reuters

Jair Bolsonaro in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month. Photo: AP

Thousands of Bolsonaro’s backers stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme on January 8, 2023. File photo: AFP

Brazil’s Bolsonaro charged in alleged coup plot that included plan to poison Lula

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged in connection with plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 election loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Photo: AFP

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro at the National Congress building in Brasilia on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Photo: Reuters

Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters storming government buildings in Brasilia on January 8, 2023. File photo: AP

Brazil police indict ex-president Bolsonaro and aides over alleged 2022 coup attempt

Brazil’s then-President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. File photo: AFP

Supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Supreme Court building in Brasilia on January 8, 2023. File photo: AP

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Photo: AFP

2024 US presidential election: Brazil’s Bolsonaro hopes for Trump’s White House comeback

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro speaks during a rally in Balneario Camboriu on July 6. Photo: AFP

Brazilian police indict Jair Bolsonaro in undeclared Saudi diamonds case

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro addresses supporters during a rally in Sao Paulo in February. Photo: AP

Luxury items included as part of an investigation into gifts received by ex-president Jair Bolsonaro were seized by customs authorities at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in March 2023. Photo: Brazil’s Federal Revenue Department via AP

Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro indicted over alleged falsification of his own vaccination data

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro greets supporters after attending a campaign event launching the pre-candidacy of a mayoral candidate, in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: AP

A woman walks past a banner featuring the Brazilian national flag and an image of former president Jair Bolsonaro with a message that reads in Portuguese: “Ex, most beloved of Brazil”, in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: AP

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A conviction could spell the end of the ex-president’s hopes of making a Trump-style comeback and land him in prison for over 40 years


A conviction could spell the end of the ex-president’s hopes of making a Trump-style comeback and land him in prison for over 40 years.


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