Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro yesterday heard a 27-year sentence for “attempted coup”, despite strong pressure from US President Donald Trump in his favour.

Foreign Minister Marco Rubio immediately signaled there would be retaliation. The US will take action because of the “unjust” condemnation, he said. Brazilian diplomacy retorted that it would not be “intimidated” by Washington’s “threats.”

By four votes to one, the Federal Supreme Court found the former president (2019-2022), 70, guilty and imposed a sentence of 27 years and three months in prison.

This is a political earthquake, with just over a year to go until the 2026 presidential election.

Mr Bolsonaru was found guilty on charges of leading a “criminal organisation” that conspired to ensure he “remained in power in an authoritarian manner” after his defeat by incumbent President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva in late 2022.

According to the indictment, the plan called for Lula to be assassinated. It was not implemented due to lack of support from the military hierarchy.

The riots that broke out on January 8, 2023, a week after Lula’s inauguration, with thousands of Bolsonaro supporters attacking and vandalizing the headquarters of institutions of power in Brasilia, were the “last hope” that the plot would work.

Already deprived of his right to vote until 2030 under house arrest before yesterday’s ruling, Mr Bolsonaru was not present at the hearing – for health reasons, the defence asserted.

The former president is “holding his head high” despite his persecution, his eldest son, Senator Flavius Bolsonaru, commented.

The conservative party will put “all its strength” to “unite parliament” to rally to approve a plan to grant amnesty to its leader, he added.

“He will die in jail”

The former president’s trial is further dividing already extremely polarised public opinion, especially in the capital.

In a bar in Brasilia where yesterday’s trial was relayed on a giant screen, the recitation of the verdict prompted cheers and shouts of joy.

“After so much waiting, this hateful guy will go to jail,” said Virgil Soares, a translator.

In a completely different atmosphere, bolsonists gathered in front of the former head of state’s house in prayer.

“With his age, we know (…) he will die in jail,” said Vaduich Batsista, an evangelical pastor.

The Bolsonaro case has caused an unprecedented crisis in the relationship between the US and Latin America’s largest economy.

Denouncing the witch hunt against his ally, Donald Trump in early August imposed punitive 50% additional customs duties on some of the goods exported from Brazil to the US.

“It causes a lot of amazement how this could be done. It’s very much like what they had tried to do in my case,” the US President stated while speaking to the press, referring to his own legal cases, which however did not have such an outcome.

Color, Temer, Lula

It is the first time a former head of state has been convicted in such a case in the country, which remains haunted by memories of the military dictatorship (1964-1985).

Denouncing the “incredibly excessive and disproportionate” sentences, the former president’s advocacy group announced that it would immediately file “the appropriate appeals, including at the international level.”

According to a source close to the Supreme Court, the defense has five days to appeal after the verdict is officially released.

Mr Bolsonaru will not be sent to jail until after he has exhausted all legal remedies available to him, Chiaigu Botinou, a professor of criminal law at the Zetulu Vargas Foundation, explained to Agence France-Presse.

The Supreme Court also sentenced seven former close associates of the former president, including former ministers and generals, to serve sentences ranging from two years in prison to 26 years in jail.

It is now expected that the battle for the leadership and the right-wing nomination in the next presidential election will very quickly accelerate and escalate.

With his popularity boosted, in part because of the U.S. attacks, Lula, 79, says he intends to seek another term, promoting himself as a defender of Brazilian “national sovereignty.”

Jair Bolsonaru is the fourth former occupant of the Planalto, the presidential palace, to be convicted since the return of democracy to the Latin American country 40 years ago.

Before him, Fernando Color g Melu, Michel Temer and Lula (who held power for two terms, from 2003 to 2010) were convicted of corruption. Lula was imprisoned from 2018 to 2019, before the conviction against him was quashed due to a procedural irregularity.