A big decision in Brazil: A five-judge panel on the country's Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in favor of accepting the charges filed by prosecutors against former President Jair Bolsonaro last month and ordered him to stand trial. He is accused of attempting a coup following his 2022 election defeat. Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet alleged that, among other things, Bolsonaro and 33 others planned to kill then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and kill Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes—who is overseeing the case and said Wednesday there was no question that Bolsonaro "knew, handled, and discussed" coup plans. More:
- Implications: In the New York Times' view, "The ruling marks a significant effort to hold Mr. Bolsonaro accountable for accusations that he sought to effectively dismantle Brazil's democracy."
- Claims of innocence: Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing, claiming political persecution as part of an effort to keep him from running for president in 2026, reports the BBC. (He is currently banned from running for office until 2030, though he said he intends to fight that ban too.) Bolsonaro served as president from January 2019 to December 2022 and narrowly lost to Lula in October 2022; he never publicly confirmed the defeat. His lawyers say the coup plot did exist, but that Bolsonaro wasn't associated with it.
- Possible repercussions: If convicted, he faces a potential 12-year sentence for the coup charges alone, reports the AP. Combined with other charges, he could face more than 40 years in prison.
- More on the alleged plot: The Guardian reports Gonet alleges the plot—which "envisaged using explosives, military ordnance, and poison"—never came to fruition because the accused couldn't get the backing of the army's commander at the 11th hour.
- Other alleged co-conspirators: The Supreme Court was tasked with deciding whether to accept the charges against eight of the 34 people Gonet accused of participating in the plot; it determined those seven former government officials should stand trial as well.
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