Brazilian Supreme Court Sentences Former President Bolsonaro to 27 Years in Prison

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup on Thursday and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

The Details: A panel of five Supreme Court judges issued the sentence hours after endorsing the conviction 4-1. Bolsonaro, who is 70, was also banned from running for public office until 2060.

For Context: Left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly defeated the right-wing Bolsonaro in the 2022 election. Lula previously served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2011, and in July 2017 was convicted on corruption charges, for which he spent 580 days in jail before the charges were annulled by the Supreme Court. In January 2023, Bolsonaro supporters stormed Brazil’s Congress and other governmental buildings. In July 2023, Bolsonaro was banned from politics for eight years.

From The Left: An opinion published in The New York Times Opinion (Left bias) said Brazil’s Supreme Court “did what the U.S. Senate and federal courts tragically failed to do: bring a former president who assaulted democracy to justice.” The Times also published an opinion from Lula himself, who wrote, “I am proud of the Brazilian Supreme Court for its historic decision on Thursday, which safeguards our institutions and the democratic rule of law.”

From The Right: Mary Anastasia O'Grady of The Wall Street Journal Opinion (Lean Right) described the Supreme Court as “biased” and wrote that “many other Brazilians, while not fans of the former president, had also hoped for a different outcome.” O’Grady described the court as “ideologically stacked” and noted several of the justices' political and personal ties to President Lula.

From The Center: Before the final ruling, Glenn Greenwald (Center), who has lived in Brazil since 2005, noted that the dissenting justice said the process was illegitimate and that the case should have been heard by a lower criminal court or all 11 Supreme Court justices. Greenwald described the five justices who heard the case as a “perfect-for-Lula partial group.”

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission.