Ex-president of Brazil to stand trial for alleged coup attempt

By James Blears

Brazil's Supreme Court of five judges unanimously decided that the country's ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, will stand trial, accused of an attempted coup.

Though the trial date has yet to be arranged, Bolsonaro and seven alleged co-conspirators will have their day in court. Aged seventy, the former president who is alleged to be the ringleader could face forty years in prison, if convicted. This ruling follows an investigation by Brazil's Federal Police who handed over an eight hundred page report to the Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet, who presented it to the five judges.

Each decided there is sufficient evidence to proceed. Bolsonaro, who is already barred from elections until 2030 for publicly criticising the voting system, denies all of these charges, claiming it is a political witch hunt. 

He served as president from January 2019 to December 2022. Bolsonaro lost the presidential election in a second round runoff to Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva in October 2022. One week after Lula's Inauguration, thousands of Brazilians stormed and ransacked government buildings in the Capital Brasilia before law and order was restored.

More than 1,500 people were arrested. Prosecutors allege that there was a coordinated criminal conspiracy to launch a coup to overthrow the democratically elected government and Bolsonaro was its leader.