Ex-Brazil president Bolsonaro sentenced to over 27 years in prison
發佈日期: 2025-09-12 21:22
TVB News
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison, hours after being convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power, in the aftermath of losing his country's 2022 election.
The conviction ruling by a panel of Supreme Court judges made 70-year-old Jair Bolsonaro the first former president in Brazil's history to be convicted for attacking democracy.
Four of the five judges voted to convict the former Brazilian president of five crimes.
These included taking part in an armed criminal organisation, attempting to violently abolish democracy, organising a coup and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.
The verdict was not unanimous. Justice Luiz Fux broke with his peers on Wednesday, by acquitting Bolsonaro of all charges and questioning the court's jurisdiction.
That single vote could open a path to challenges to the ruling, which could push the trial's conclusion closer to Brazil's October 2026 presidential election.
Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he will be a candidate in that election despite being barred from running for office.
Bolsonaro's lawyers said the sentencing was absurdly excessive and they would file the appropriate appeals.
The conviction of Bolsonaro drew disapproval from U.S. President Donald Trump.
"Well, I watched that trial," said Trump. "I know him pretty well. Foreign leader. He's a good, I thought he was a good president of Brazil. And it's very surprising that that could happen. That's very much like they tried to do with they tried to do with me, but they didn't get away with it at all."
Bolsonaro's conviction and its durability will be a powerful test for the strategy Brazil's highest-ranking judges have adopted to protect the country's democracy against what they describe as dangerous attacks by the far-right.
Their targets have included social media platforms they accused of spreading disinformation about the electoral system, as well as politicians and activists who have attacked the court.
The cases have largely been led by the commanding figure of Justice Alexandre de Moraes, appointed to the court by a conservative president in 2017.
His approach to Bolsonaro and his allies has been celebrated by the left and denounced by the right as political persecution.
