AP (“Brazilian Supreme Court panel sentences Bolsonaro to more than 27 years in prison for coup attempt“):
A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices sentenced former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison Thursday after convicting him of attempting a coup to remain in office despite his 2022 electoral defeat.
Bolsonaro, who has always denied any wrongdoing, can try to appeal the ruling. He is currently under house arrest in Brasilia.
Four of the five justices reviewing the case in the panel found the far-right politician guilty on five counts, in a ruling that will deepen political divisions and was expected to prompt a backlash from the U.S. government. It makes Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.
The five counts are: attempting a coup after losing the 2022 race to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a plot that prosecutors alleged included plans to kill Lula; participating in an armed criminal organization; attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law; damage qualified by violence; and deterioration of listed heritage.
Bolsonaro’s co-conspirators, all of them former Brazilian officials, were also sentenced for their roles in the attempted coup. Gen. Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s former defense minister and running mate in 2022, received 26 years. Admiral Almir Garnier got 24 years. Gen. Augusto Heleno received 21 years and Gen. Paulo Sérgio Nogueira got 19 years. Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, who cooperated with investigations, was given two years under an open regime.
Chief Justice Luís Roberto Barroso joined the panel at the end of the session and called the trial a “watershed moment in Brazil’s history.”
Imagine that: the president of a country loses an election, uses violent means in a failed attempt to retain power, and is subsequently held legally accountable. Why, it’s like a democracy with a strong sense of the rule of law.
Naturally, the government of the region’s oldest democracy is thrilled.
Not so fast, my friends!
Reuters (“Rubio vows US response following conviction of Brazil’s Bolsonaro“):
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said the United States would respond, without specifying how, after former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election.
“The political persecutions by sanctioned human rights abuser Alexandre de Moraes continue, as he and others on Brazil’s supreme court have unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro,” Rubio wrote on X.
“The United States will respond accordingly to this witch hunt,” he said.
A truly bizarre response from a U.S. Secretary of State. Much less one who is “the son of Cuban immigrants who left Cuba in pursuit of the American Dream.” And, “During the first Trump Administration, he worked with the President to hold members of the Cuban regime accountable, including the dictatorship’s military holding company.”
What could possibly explain such a turnabout?!
“Well, I watched that trial. I know him pretty well–foreign leader. I thought he was a good president of Brazil, and it’s very surprising that could happen very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,” Trump told reporters when asked about Bolsonaro being found guilty and if that means additional sanctions.
“But I can always say this: I knew him as president of Brazil. He was a good man, and I don’t see that happening.”
Trump, who also faced a variety of criminal charges and ultimately became the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime last year, has criticized the Brazilian judicial system and threatened tariffs on the South American country for its persecution of Bolsonaro.
In July, he imposed 50% tariffs on most Brazilian goods to fight what he has called a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro. He later exempted some Brazilian exports, including passenger vehicles and a large number of parts and components used in civil aircraft.
That same month, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over Bolsonaro’s criminal case, accusing him of authorizing arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression.
And, indeed, he clearly did those things to substantial controversy. Supporters argued that they were necessary measures in the wake of a threat to the rule of law. Opponents argued that they were an extra- or even un-constitutional abuse of power. They are both right.
Regardless, there’s little doubt that Bolsonaro committed the crimes for which he was convicted and sentenced. This is not the sort of thing over which the U.S. government would ordinarily intercede. But, of course, the Executive branch is currently headed by a man who feels persecuted for being investigated over similar acts. So, naturally, it feels like a “witch hunt.”
