Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting Brazil coup

The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison after being found guilty of plotting a military coup.

A panel of five Supreme Court justices handed down the sentence just hours after they had convicted the former leader.

They ruled he was guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to his left-wing rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Four of the justices found him guilty while one voted to acquit him.

Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest, did not attend the trial but has in the past called it a "witch hunt".

His words have previously been echoed by US President, Donald Trump, who imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods, framing them as retaliation for Bolsonaro's prosecution.

Reacting to the guilty verdict, Trump said he found it "very surprising" and compared it to his own experience: "That's very much like they tried to do with me. But they didn't get away with it at all."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Brazil's Supreme Court had "unjustly ruled to imprison former President Jair Bolsonaro" and threatened to "respond accordingly to this witch hunt".

Bolsonaro, who is 70, now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.

His lawyers are expected to argue that he should be kept under house arrest instead of being sent to jail.

They will also plead for a lower sentence.

However, they will not be able to appeal against the verdict itself, as that would only have been possible if two out of the five justices had voted to acquit.

Bolsonaro was found guilty of five charges, all relating to his attempt to cling to power after he was beaten in the 2022 election.

But prosecutors said he had started to plot to stay in power long before, proposing a coup to military commanders and sowing unfounded doubts about the electoral system.

They also said that Bolsonaro knew of a plan to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential running mate, as well as a Supreme Court Justice.

The justices found he had led a conspiracy and also convicted seven of his co-conspirators, including senior military officers. Among them are two former defence ministers, a former spy chief and former security minster.

While the 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.