Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years for coup plot

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison after a panel of Supreme Court justices voted to convict him of attempting a coup to remain in office after his 2022 electoral defeat.

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The far-right politician who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022 was found guilty on five counts by three members of a five-justice panel. Prosecutors charged Bolsonaro with attempting to stage a coup, being part of an armed criminal organisation, attempting 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.

Although his plot failed to enlist enough support from the military to go ahead, it did culminate in the storming of government buildings by Bolsonaro's supporters on 8 January 2023, the justices found. The 70-year-old is currently under house arrest. His lawyers have said that they will appeal the verdict to the full Supreme Court of 11 justices.