Brazil court set to rule on Bolsonaro coup allegations

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro was one step away from being convicted for attempting a coup, after two Supreme Court justices voted Tuesday to find the right-wing leader guilty of trying to illegally hang onto power.

- AGENCIES Brasilia, 10 September

Three members of the five-judge panel trying Bolsonaro's case must support a conviction, in a process that can last several days.

Two judges voted for conviction before proceedings were adjourned until Wednesday. Three more must cast their votes.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case and is considered by Bolsonaro supporters a foe, said the far-right politician who governed Brazil between 2019 and 2022 was the leader of a coup plot and of a criminal organisation, and voted in favor of convicting him.

"We can't forget that little by little Brazil almost returned to a dictatorship that lasted 20 years," de Moraes said, in a reference to the country's military rule between 1964-85. "That was because of a criminal organisation built by a political group that doesn't know how to lose elections."

Justice Flávio Dino also voted to convict Bolsonaro. Proceedings were then adjourned, with court sessions scheduled every day through Friday.