(Adnkronos) – Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will appear before the Supreme Court tomorrow, accused of orchestrating a coup in an attempt to overturn the result of the 2022 presidential election, which he lost. Bolsonaro, in office from 2019 to 2023, will be questioned along with seven other alleged conspirators, including four former ministers, as part of an investigation that federal police describe as a vast three-year conspiracy aimed at destabilizing one of the world’s largest democracies.
According to the accusation, the former president allegedly sought to overturn Lula’s electoral victory through a murderous plot that included the assassination or arrest of key political rivals, including the president-elect, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Bolsonaro has always strongly denied all charges.
“It is the first time in Brazilian history that the possibility arises that the perpetrators of a coup d’état are brought to justice – declared Bernardo Mello Franco, political columnist for the newspaper O Globo, quoted by the Guardian – Brazilian history is full of military coups and counter-coups, but over time those responsible have always gone unpunished: either because they managed to take control of the judicial system, or because they obtained amnesty, as after the military dictatorship of 1964-85.”
There is broad consensus among experts that the former president, now seventy, will be found guilty and sentenced by the end of the year, risking exclusion from political life and a long prison sentence. “Bolsonaro himself believes he has already been convicted by the Supreme Court, he has said so on several occasions,” explained Mello Franco. “Even those who know the Supreme Court well think he will be found guilty. The evidence against him is substantial.”
However, strong doubts remain as to whether, in the event of a conviction, Bolsonaro will actually serve his sentence. One of the right-wing presidential candidates for 2026, Romeu Zema, has already promised to pardon him if elected.
