Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday, September 11th sentenced ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for coup plotting at the end of a landmark trial that divided the nation and drew U.S. fury.
The sentence could see the 70-year-old conservative leader spend the rest of his days in jail.
Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger.
Prosecutors said the plan failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass.
Bolsonaro’s defense team called the sentence “incredibly excessive” and announced he would appeal, “including at the international level.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “will respond accordingly” to what he called a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
Brazil’s foreign ministry hit back, saying it would not be intimidated by Rubio’s “threats.”
Former army captain Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, claims he is the victim of political persecution.
Speaking outside his father’s home in Brasilia, Bolsonaro’s lawmaker son Flavio Bolsonaro said the politician was “holding his head high in the face of this persecution, because history will show that we are on the right side.”
He added that his father’s allies would act with “all their might” to secure Congress’s support for an amnesty bill.
