Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been convicted by a majority vote of the Supreme Court of plotting a coup to stay in power after losing the 2022 election, Reuters reports.
This represents a strong blow to the populist far-right movement he created.
The ruling by a majority of a five-judge panel of Brazil's Supreme Court makes Bolsonaro the first former president in the country's history to be convicted of an attack on democracy.
Judge Carmen Lucia voted today to convict Bolsonaro on all five counts of the indictment, joining judges Alexandre de Moraes and Flavio Dino. Judge Luis Fuchs was the only one to dissent so far, voting to acquit the former president.
Bolsonaro faces decades in prison for attempting to stay in power by force after his defeat in the 2022 election, writes The Guardian.
The conviction of Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has never hidden his admiration for the military dictatorship that killed hundreds of Brazilians between 1964 and 1985, echoes legal convictions this year by far-right leaders around the world, including French politician Marine Le Pen and former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
The decision is expected to further anger Bolsonaro's close ally, US President Donald Trump, who has already called the process a "witch hunt" and responded by imposing higher tariffs, sanctions against the presiding judge and revoking visas for most members of Brazil's Supreme Court.
The verdict was not unanimous, as Judge Louis Fuchs separated himself from his colleagues on Wednesday and acquitted the former president of all charges.
That single vote could open the way for a challenge to the verdict, potentially bringing the conclusion of the trial closer to the 2026 presidential election campaign, in which Bolsonaro has repeatedly stated that he will be a candidate, even though he is banned from running.
Fuchs's vote also sparked a wave of strong relief among the former president's supporters, who celebrated it as a vindication of justice.
"When coherence and a sense of justice prevail over revenge and lies, there is no room for cruel persecution or biased judgments," Michelle Bolsonaro, the former president's wife, announced after Fuchs' vote.
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