The Judicial Council of the Brazilian Supreme Court has sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison for planning a coup to remain in power after his defeat in the 2022 elections.
A five-member panel of Supreme Court judges delivered the verdict just hours after finding the former leader guilty, the BBC reports.
They found him guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after his defeat in the 2022 elections by his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Four of the five judges on the panel found him guilty, while one judge voted to acquit Bolsonaro of the charges.
Bolsonaro's lawyers called the verdict "absurdly excessive" and said they would file "appropriate appeals," including at the international level.
The Supreme Court panel also banned him from running for any public office until 2033.
Bolsonaro, who was placed under house arrest after being deemed a flight risk, did not personally attend the final stages of his trial.
He has previously said the trial is aimed at preventing him from running for president in 2026, even though he has already been banned from holding public office on separate charges. He has also called the trial a "witch hunt."
Those words were also used by US President Donald Trump, who imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods, saying it was retaliation for Bolsonaro's trial.
Reacting to Bolsonaro's conviction, Trump said it was "very surprising" and compared it to his own experience.
"It's a lot like what they tried to do to me. But they didn't succeed at all," Trump said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Brazilian Supreme Court "unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro" and threatened "an appropriate response to this witch hunt."
The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly reacted to this, writing on the X network that "threats like those made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement attacking Brazilian authority and ignoring documented facts and convincing evidence will not intimidate our democracy."
Far-right politician Bolsonaro, who ruled Brazil between 2019 and 2022, is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of a coup attempt.
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