The Japan Times - Brazil's Bolsonaro ordered to stand trial for attempted coup

The trial will be the first of an ex-leader accused of attempting to take power by force since the start of Brazil's transition from dictatorship to democracy in 1985.

If convicted the 70-year-old former army captain, who had nurtured hopes of making a comeback in elections scheduled for next year, risks a jail term of over 40 years.

Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019-2022, is accused of leading a "criminal organization" that conspired to keep him in power regardless of the outcome of the 2022 election.

He lost to veteran left-winger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by a razor-thin margin.

Investigators say that after his defeat the coup plotters planned to issue a decree calling for new elections.

The investigators say the plotters also planned to have Lula, his vice-president Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes -- a Bolsonaro arch-foe and one of the judges in the current case -- assassinated.

A five-judge panel of the Supreme court voted unanimously to put Bolsonaro on trial.

Moraes, who has called Bolsonaro a "dictator," was the first judge to give his findings in the hearing, which was broadcast live on Brazilian TV.

Bolsonaro will be the second Brazilian ex-president in under a decade to face a criminal trial.

In July 2017, then ex-president Lula was found guilty of corruption.

He spent a year-and-a-half in prison but later had his conviction annulled by the Supreme Court and went on to win back the top office.

- 'Persecution' -

Bolsonaro is charged with attempting a "coup d'etat," the "attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law" and "armed criminal organization."

The prosecution says the alleged plot did not come to fruition due to a lack of support from the army high command.

Seven other people will be tried alongside Bolsonaro, including several of his former ministers and a former navy commander.

The former president insists he is the victim of a political ploy aimed at barring his return to the presidency.

"This is the largest political-judicial persecution in the history of Brazil," he said in a statement Tuesday.

"The referee has blown the whistle before the match even began," he added later on social media platform X.

He had sought in vain to have three judges, including Moraes, removed from the case.

Bolsonaro's political future had already appeared in doubt before Wednesday's ruling.

He has been disqualified from holding public office until 2030 for having cast doubt on Brazil's electronic voting system.

He had hoped to have the ban overturned or reduced in time to stand in next year's election.

A conviction for plotting to subvert Brazil's democracy would likely end those ambitions and force the right to find a new candidate.

- Capitol-style attacks -

Dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics" after his political idol Donald Trump, Bolsonaro has been the target of multiple investigations since his turbulent years as leader of Latin America's biggest economy.

The latest investigation yielded a dossier of nearly 900 pages.

Investigators say Brazil's democracy hung by a thread on January 8, 2023, when thousands of Bolsonaro's backers stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court demanding the military oust Lula a week after his inauguration.

Bolsonaro was in the United States at the time, and says he condemned the "violent acts" committed that day.

Throughout the investigation he has compared his fate to that of his "friend" Trump, who returned to the White House this year despite his own many legal troubles, and after a similar storming of the US Capitol by his supporters in January 2021.

In an interview with the Financial Times published Tuesday, Bolsonaro claimed Brazil "needs support from abroad" as it had become "a real dictatorship."

M.Fujitav--JT