Brazil’s Supreme Court begins voting Tuesday to convict or acquit far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro in a coup trial that has prompted mass protests by his fervent base and punitive backlash from his US ally, Donald Trump.
Bolsonaro, 70, risks a prison term of over 40 years if found guilty of seeking to claw back power after his defeat in the 2022 election by leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, now in office.
The former head of state is in the dock with seven co-defendants, including former ministers and generals, before a panel of five judges presided over by Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Moraes, who has repeatedly clashed with Bolsonaro and other right-wing figures in cases involving disinformation, was placed under financial sanctions by Washington, which accuses Brasilia of persecution in the coup case.
Trump denounced a “witch hunt” against his far-right ally and has slapped a 50-percent tariff on many imports from Brazil as punishment.
Moraes vowed in response that the court would not bow to “internal or external threats and coercion” and will stand “absolutely inflexible in defending national sovereignty.”
– Amnesty? –
The trial is the first of a Brazilian former head of state on coup charges.
For many Brazilians it is a test of democracy 40 years after the end of military dictatorship, for others a political show trial.
On Sunday, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters demonstrated in several cities to denounce the trial as a “disgrace” and thanking Trump for his intervention.
Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, stands accused of having led a “criminal organization” that conspired to overthrow Lula.
Prosecutors say he plotted to declare a state of emergency and call new elections, but failed to win the support of the military top brass.
Bolsonaro also allegedly knew of a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and the judge Moraes.
Over four days from Tuesday to Friday, the five judges will decide the ex-president’s fate, voting one after the other.
A simple majority of three judges is needed for a guilty verdict, but Bolsonaro can then appeal.
Apart from a lengthy prison sentence, a guilty verdict could also scupper Bolsonaro’s hopes of making a Trump-style comeback from a criminal conviction to the country’s top job.
Fearing his conviction is imminent, allies are meanwhile pushing Congress to pass an amnesty law to save Bolsonaro from prison.
Sao Paulo governor Tarcisio de Freitas, a Bolsonaro ally and possible successor in 2026 presidential elections, told AFP there were “more than enough votes” for the amnesty to pass.
Aides said Bolsonaro plans to follow this week’s deliberations from his residence in Brasilia where he has been under house arrest since last month.
Lawyers have said he is in ill health, suffering the effects of being stabbed in the abdomen at a campaign rally in 2018.
Security at the court has been beefed up.
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