Latin America

“The defendant, Jair Bolsonaro, was leader of this criminal structure,” the judge told a courtroom in the capital, Brasília, during a five-hour speech detailing what he called Bolsonaro’s “authoritarian project”.
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“Brazil nearly went back to being a dictatorship … because a criminal organisation made up of a political group doesn’t know how to lose elections​,” Moraes told the court​. “Because a criminal organisation made up of a political group led by Jair Bolsonaro doesn’t understand that the alternation of power is a principle of republican democracy.”​
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Later in the day, a second judge, Flávio Dino, also voted for Bolsonaro and his alleged accomplices to be found guilty, although Dino argued that some of the defendants had higher levels of culpability than others. Bolsonaro’s level of guilt was “rather high”, the judge claimed, indicating he would support a tougher sentence for the former president.

Three more supreme court justices are due to cast their votes in the coming days, with Bolsonaro’s conviction widely considered a foregone conclusion. If found guilty of crimes including leading an armed criminal organisation and a coup d’etat and violently attempting to abolish Brazil’s democracy, the former president faces a sentence of up to 43 years. A verdict is expected by Thursday. While Bolsonaro has denied the charges, he has admitted seeking supposedly constitutional ways of remaining in power.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/09/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-trial