Brazil’s Supreme Court has decided by a majority vote to put former President Jair Bolsonaro on trial. He is accused of attempting a coup d’état after losing the election in 2022.
At the hearing, the judges were shown video footage of mass protests in January 2023, when after the inauguration of Brazil’s new president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed Congress and the Supreme Court and stormed the presidential palace. Police detained at least 1,843 people, and more than 1,100 were subsequently arrested. An investigation was then launched into Bolsonaro, whom prosecutors suspect of inciting the protests.
Bolsonaro himself denies that he was preparing a coup attempt and calls his prosecution politically motivated.
Seven close allies of the former president, including former defence minister Walter Braga Neto, former justice minister Anderson Torres and his aide Mauro Cid, will also stand trial. They will face charges of attempted coup d’état, involvement in an armed criminal group, attempted destruction of state property and vandalism. The article on attempted coup d’état under Brazilian law carries a penalty of up to 12 years in prison.
This is not the first trial of Bolsonaro. In 2023, the former president was found guilty of abuse of power and using public media to win elections. The court then banned him from holding and running for public office until 2030.