OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
10:47 AM – Friday, September 12, 2025
Brazilian Supreme Court justices sentenced former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison for attempting to overstay his term in office.
On Thursday, four of the five justices in the panel found the former president guilty on all five counts against him:
- Attempting a coup d’état after losing the presidential election to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022.
- Armed criminal conspiracy, having been involved with a criminal organization that planned the coup.
- Attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law.
- Committing violent acts against state institutions.
- Public property damage, when his supporters stormed government buildings on January 8, 2023.
Prosecutors say that the plot to hold onto the presidency allegedly included plans to kill Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro maintains his denial of any wrongdoing.
Bolsonaro’s co-conspirators were also sentenced for their involvement in the attempted coup. General Braga Netto, the former president’s running mate in 2022, received 26 years. Admiral Almir Garnier received 24 years, and General Augusto Heleno received 21 years. General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira got 19 years.
U.S. President Donald Trump responded immediately to the ruling, saying he was “very unhappy” with the decision. He told reporters at the White House that he found Bolsonaro “outstanding” as a person and politician.
The Trump administration has also put into place a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods, allegedly in reaction to the conviction of Bolsonaro.
The convicted Brazilian president will not go to prison right away, as the court panel has up to 60 days to publish the ruling, which would allow Bolsonaro’s lawyers five days to file appeals. His lawyers have already stated that they will indeed appeal the conviction and the sentence before the full Supreme Court of 11 justices.
Rafael Mafei, lawyer and law professor at University of São Paulo, said, “It’s unlikely, but not impossible, that there will be appeals to the full Supreme Court.”
“He is the instigator, the leader of an organization that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power,” said Carmen Lúcia, one of the judges on the panel.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son, decried the conviction on X as a “supreme persecution.”
Thomas Traumann, a former government minister and political consultant based in Rio de Janeiro, said that the day of the decision was “the most important day for Brazil’s democracy since the 1988 constitution was approved.”
“It is the first time a former President, a former Defense minister and a former military commander are punished for trying to stop an elected government from taking office,” Traumann continued. “The threats of the American government make this decision of the Supreme Court an even braver one. The relations between the two countries will get worse and maybe get better once the Trump administration understands there are limits to the will it wants to impose.”
“Bolsonaro attempted a coup in this country, and there is hundreds of pieces of evidence,” Lula said early Thursday in an interview with local TV Band, ahead of the trial.
Previously, in a separate case, the former president had been banned from running for office until 2030.
“There is a God in heaven who sees everything, who loves justice and hates iniquity,” former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro said on social media.
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