A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison on Thursday after convicting him of plotting a coup to cling to power after his 2022 election loss.
The far-right politician who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022 has always denied any wrongdoing. He is currently under house arrest in Brasilia and can appeal the ruling.
Four of the five justices reviewing the case in the panel found Bolsonaro guilty on five counts, in a ruling that will deepen political divisions and was expected to prompt a backlash from the U.S. government. It makes Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup.
The U.S. government immediately criticized the ruling and warned it would respond.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was "very unhappy" with the conviction. Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House, he said he'd always found Bolsonaro to be "outstanding."
And later, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media platform X that Trump's government "will respond accordingly to this witch hunt."
Trump's administration had already applied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods, which it said was in reaction to the process against Bolsonaro.
The sentence doesn't mean he will immediately go to prison. The court panel has now up to 60 days to publish the ruling. Once it does, Bolsonaro's lawyers have five days to file motions for clarification.
Rafael Mafei, lawyer and law professor at University of Sao Paulo and ESPM university, said Bolsonaro and his co-conspirators could present a motion for clarification, a quick appeal that usually doesn't change the decision.
"It's unlikely, but not impossible, that appeals to the full Supreme Court would change the outcome for any of the defendants. Unless the Supreme Court changes the interpretation it has been adopting since 2018. But of course, the defenses will try, because they should," Mafei said.
One of the justices, Carmen Lucia, said she was convinced by the evidence the Attorney General's Office presented against the former president. "He is the instigator, the leader of an organization that orchestrated every possible move to maintain or seize power," she said.
Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president's eldest son, said on X the conviction was a "supreme persecution" and that history would show they were on the right side.
The trial has been followed by a divided society, with people backing the process against the former president, while others still support him. Some have taken to the streets to back the far-right leader who contends he is being politically persecuted.
Observers say the U.S. might announce new sanctions against Brazil after the trial, further straining their fragile diplomatic relations.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case, said Tuesday that Bolsonaro was the leader of a coup plot and of a criminal organization, and voted in favor of convicting him.
Lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro, another of the former president's sons, on Thursday talked about his father on his social media platforms. But instead of mentioning his father's conviction, he pushed for his amnesty, which he is seeking through Congress.
"It is time to do nothing less than what is correct, just," he said.
Thomas Traumann, a former government minister and political consultant based in Rio de Janeiro, said it is "the most important day for Brazil's democracy since the 1988 constitution was approved."
"It is the first time a former President, a former Defense minister and a former military commander are punished for trying to stop an elected government from taking office," Traumann said.
"The threats of the American government make this decision of the Supreme Court an even braver one. The relations between the two countries will get worse and maybe get better once the Trump administration understands there are limits to the will it wants to impose," he added.
Justice Luiz Fux, in his dissenting opinion on Wednesday, disagreed with de Moraes and the other two justices.
"No one can be punished for cogitation," Fux said. "A coup d'état does not result from isolated acts or individual demonstrations lacking coordination, but rather from the actions of organized groups, equipped with resources and strategic capacity to confront and replace the incumbent power."
Bolsonaro faced accusations he attempted to illegally hang onto power after his 2022 electoral defeat to current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Prosecutors charged Bolsonaro with counts including attempting to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, as well as being implicated in violence and posing a serious threat to the state's assets and listed heritage.
"Bolsonaro attempted a coup in this country, and there is hundreds of pieces of evidence," Lula said early Thursday in an interview with local TV Band, ahead of the trial.
Despite his legal woes, Bolsonaro remains a powerful political player in Brazil.
The embattled former leader had been previously banned from running for office until 2030 in a separate case. He could face increased pressure to pick a political heir to likely challenge Lula in the general elections next year.
The ruling may push Bolsonaro's allied lawmakers to seek some amnesty for him through Congress.
"I had the honor to serve as Jair Messias Bolsonaro's chief of staff. I have never seen any act from him that wasn't out of love for Brazil and absolute honesty. Bolsonaro is the greatest popular right-wing leader in the country's history," Sen. Ciro Nogueira said on X.
"There is a God in heaven who sees everything, who loves justice and hates iniquity," former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro wrote on social media.
