Brazil's Bolsonaro ordered to stand trial for attempted coup

Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial on charges of plotting a coup, a case that could torpedo his hopes of making a political comeback.

The trial will be the first of an ex-leader accused of attempting to take power by force since Brazil's return to democracy in 1985 following two decades of military dictatorship.

A five-judge panel of the Supreme Court voted unanimously Wednesday to put Bolsonaro on trial after finding there was sufficient evidence against him.

Bolsonaro was not in court for the ruling, but in comments to reporters he slammed the allegations as "unfounded."

"It seems they have something personal against me," he said.

If convicted, the 70-year-old former Army captain, who had nurtured hopes of standing in elections next year, risks a jail term of over 40 years, and political banishment.

Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, is accused of leading a "criminal organisation" that conspired to keep him in power regardless of the outcome of the 2022 election.

He lost to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by a razor-thin margin.

Investigators say that after his defeat, but while still in office, the coup plotters planned to declare a state of emergency so that new elections could be held.

He is also accused of being aware of a plot to assassinate Lula, his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes – a Bolsonaro foe and one of the judges in the current case.

Moraes, who has called Bolsonaro a "dictator," was the first judge to give his findings in Wednesday's hearing, broadcast live on Brazilian TV.

"There are reasonable indications from the prosecution pointing to Bolsonaro as the leader of the criminal organisation," he said.

Analysts say it is unlikely Bolsonaro will be remanded in custody, and he will probably stand trial as a free man to avoid perceptions of election interference.

The far-right leader is charged with attempting a "coup d'etat," the "attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law" and "armed criminal organization," among other crimes.

The prosecution says the plot did not come to fruition due to a lack of support from the Army’s high command.

Seven alleged conspirators will be tried alongside the ex-president, including former ministers and an ex-Navy commander. 

Bolsonaro insists he is the victim of a political plot to obstruct his return to power.

"I am not dead yet," he told reporters Wednesday in Brasília, insisting the candidate for the right in next year's vote "will be Bolsonaro."

Not the first…

Jair Bolsonaro  is just the latest leader of Latin America's biggest economy to face court proceedings.

Unlike his predecessors, however, most of whom were charged with corruption, he is accused of attacking Brazil's democracy.

Four of the seven presidents who have led Brazil since the return of democracy after the country's 1964-1985 military dictatorship have been either convicted, jailed or impeached. 

Here is a recap of their cases:

Fernando Collor de Mello

Brazil's first democratically elected president was forced to resign half-way through his term after Congress launched impeachment proceedings against him for allegedly taking bribes. The centre-right leader returned to politics in 2006 as a senator, only to become caught up in the sweeping ‘Lata Jato’ ("Car Wash") graft scandal. In 2023, he was sentenced to eight years and 10 months in prison for taking bribes in exchange for negotiating contracts between a construction company and a subsidiary of state-run oil company Petrobras. He has not yet been sent to jail.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

The veteran left-winger, who served two terms as president between 2003 and 2010, and defeated Bolsonaro in 2022 to win a third, was also convicted as part of the Lata Jato mega-probe. He spent 580 days in prison between April 2018 and November 2019 for bribe-taking and money-laundering relating to  seaside apartment he owned. Investigators accused the former labour leader of having received the seaside apartment as a bribe from a construction company that won government tenders. His conviction was later overturned by the Supreme Court, which found that the trial court judge had been biased in his handling of the case, among other issues. The quashing of his conviction paved the way for him to pull off a remarkable political comeback.

Dilma Rousseff

Lula's hand-picked successor, who was elected Brazil's first female president in 2010, was impeached by Congress in 2016 on charges of taking unauthorised loans to fudge holes in the government's accounts. She denied any wrongdoing, saying previous administrations did the same. Before her impeachment hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets calling for her departure over her handling of a recession and corruption in the ruling Workers' Party (PT). Brazil's left called the impeachment a parliamentary "coup." Rousseff said it smacked of misogyny.

Michel Temer

Rousseff was succeeded by her centrist deputy Michel Temer, who was also caught up in the Lata Jato probe. Congress voted twice against putting him on trial for corruption. After leaving power he was jailed twice in 2019 for obstruction of justice but was released within a few days on both occasions.

– TIMES/AFP