Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro could spend decades behind bars after the country’s Supreme Court found him guilty of plotting a military coup.
The far-right politician who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022 was convicted on Thursday on five counts of attempting an insurrection to remain in office despite his electoral defeat three years ago.
Justice Carmen Lucia voted to convict Bolsonaro,siding with justices Alexandre de Moraes and Flavio Dino.
She said there was enough evidence indicating that the former president had acted ‘with the purpose of eroding democracy and institutions.’
Justice Luiz Fux was the only one dissenting so far, voting to acquit the former president.
The Supreme Court has not reached a majority to convict Bolsonaro on all charges he faces, however.
But the panel now appears to have a three out of five majority to officially convict him.
The ruling makes Bolsonaro the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted for attacking democracy.
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro could spend decades behind bars after the country’s Supreme Court formed a majority on Thursday to convict him of being part of an armed criminal organization. Pictured: olsonaro gestures at the garage of his residence in Brasilia on September 11, 2025
Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court (STF) minister Carmen Lucia speaks during the voting session to convict or acquit far-right Brazil’s former President (2019-2022) Jair Bolsonaro in a coup trial at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in Brasilia on September 11, 2025
General view during the voting session to convict or acquit far-right Brazil’s former President (2019-2022) Jair Bolsonaro in a coup trial at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in Brasilia on September 11, 2025
The 70-year-old former president is currently under house arrest in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia.
Bolsonaro, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not attended the court and was pictured outside his home in Brasilia today.
The official conviction and sentencing is expected to take place tomorrow, and the former president could face up to 40 years in prison.
The coup plot charge alone carries a 12-year sentence.
Bolsonaro, a former Army captain who never hid his admiration for the military dictatorship that killed hundreds of Brazilians between 1964 and 1985, echoes legal condemnations this year for far-right leaders elsewhere, including France’s Marrie Le Pen and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte.
It is likely to enrage Bolsonaro’s close ally Donald Trump, who has already called the case a ‘witch hunt’ and slammed Brazil with tariff hikes, sanctions against the presiding judge, and the revocation of visas for most members of Brazil’s high court.
The trial has been followed by a divided society, with people backing the process against the former president, while others still support him, and have called for him to run for president again in 2026.
Some have taken to the streets back the far-right leader.
The 70-year-old former president is currently under house arrest
A supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro prays during a vigil in his support near his home where he is under house arrest, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025
The trial has been followed by a divided society, with people backing the process against the former president, while others still support him
Some opposition parties have also pushed for the former president to be granted amnesty.
Bolsonaro’s conviction marks the lowest point in his trajectory from the back benches of Congress to forge a powerful conservative coalition that tested the limits of the country’s young democratic institution.
His political journey began after a brief career as an army paratrooper, when he became a city lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1980s.
He went on to be elected as a congressman in Brasilia, where he quickly became known for his defense of authoritarian-era policies in the early years of Brazil’s democracy.
His reputation as a firebrand was fueled by interviews like one in which he argued that Brazil would only change ‘on the day that we break out in civil war here and do the job that the military regime didn’t do: killing 30,000.’
While long dismissed as a fringe player, he refined his message to play up anti-corruption and pro-family values themes.
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