Brazil’s Supreme Court will weigh Tuesday whether to put far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro on trial for allegedly masterminding an attempted coup after losing elections in 2022.
If convicted, the 70-year-old risks a prison sentence of about 40 years.
According to the charge sheet, Bolsonaro led a “criminal organization” that had sought to unseat leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to whom he lost October 2022 elections by a razor-thin margin.
A week after Lula took office on January 1, 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro backers stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court demanding the military oust the new president, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
Five judges — including Bolsonaro arch-rival Alexandre de Moraes — will now consider whether there is enough evidence to try the ex-president and seven alleged co-conspirators, including former ministers and a navy commander.
A decision is expected Tuesday or Wednesday, the court has said.
Bolsonaro was charged in February with crimes including the “attempted violent abolition of the democratic state of law” and membership of an “armed criminal organization.”
Dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” after his political idol Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has been the target of multiple investigations since his turbulent years as president of Latin America’s biggest democracy from 2019 to 2022.
Prosecutors say the former army captain was aware of a plot to invoke a state of emergency to bring about a “correction” of the 2022 election outcome, and even plans to assassinate Lula, his deputy Geraldo Alckmin, and Moraes, the judge.
The alleged plot did not come to fruition due to a lack of support from the army high command, according to investigators.
Investigations have also linked Bolsonaro to the disturbances of January 8, 2023. He was in the United States at the time, and denies any involvement.
“It’s a political trial. For what purpose? To remove me from the political scene for next year” when fresh presidential elections are due to be held, Bolsonaro said recently, alleging that he was a victim of “persecution.”
Bolsonaro has been disqualified from holding public office until 2030 for having cast doubt on Brazil’s electronic voting system, but is hopeful the ban will be overturned.
“For the moment, I am a candidate” for the 2026 vote, he declared this month.
The former president has compared his situation to that of Trump, who returned to the White House this year despite his own legal troubles, and after a similar storming of the US Capitol by his supporters in January 2021.
Security at the Supreme Court in Brasilia has been beefed up ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, due to start at 9:30 am local time (1230 GMT).
