New Delhi: Former President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison by Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday. He is accused of plotting to cling on to power after losing elections to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The former Army captain enjoyed the backing of the US, when he was in power between 2019 to 2022.
Bolsonaro led criminal organisation: Court
The court observed that the former President led a criminal organisation that aimed to prevent Lula from taking office in 2023. According to reports the plan was to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin, and Alexandre de Moraes — one of the five Supreme Court judges in his trial.
When he was in the military, Bolsonaro had a reputation of disobeying orders. On Thursday, the very institutions he had so openly defied, brought him down.
The 5 judge bench ruled 4-1 against 70-year-old Bolsonaro, sentencing him to a total of 27 years and 3 months in jail. Following his conviction, Bolsonaro protested his conviction, describing himself as a victim of political persecution.
Bolsonaro enjoys the support of the “Bibles, bullets and beef” coalition. The group comprises Evangelical Christians, security hardliners and the agribusiness industry.
He rose to fame in 2016, following the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff. He took up issues of corruption, violence, economic mismanagement and Brazil’s “rotten” left. While campaigning for the Presidential post in 2018, he survived a knife attack, which left him with a deep abdominal wound. Following the attack and his survival, his followers were convinced that he was their ‘Messiah’. This is also the former President’s middle name in Portuguese.
Bolsonaro’s presidency was marked by Covid-19 denialism and rampant Amazon deforestation. At least 700,000 people died during the Covid pandemic in Brazil, which was second only to the US.
Before the trial began, Bolsanaro was hoping to overturn a ruling which barred him from holding office till 2030. He had been barred from election for allegedly spreading misinformation about the country’s electoral system.