A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court justices voted on Friday to reject former president Jair Bolsonaro’s appeal against his conviction for an attempted coup, according to judicial sources.
The judges upheld the 27-year prison sentence imposed on Bolsonaro by a lower court, the sources said.
The ruling will only be finalised on a court deadline, set for 14 November.
Bolsonaro, aged 70, was convicted on 11 September for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election.
Hearings for the appeal began on Friday and will continue until the November deadline. Bolsonaro’s lawyers have argued for a reduction of the sentence.
Three out of four justices assigned to review the appeal voted against it during a virtual session on Friday. Justice Alexandre de Moraes was the first to speak, rejecting all arguments made by Bolsonaro’s defence team.
Bolsonaro faced charges following riots in Brasília in January 2023, days after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidential inauguration. Lula had defeated Bolsonaro in the 2022 election.
Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed government buildings in an attempt to block Lula’s presidency. Reports also indicated plans to assassinate the new president.
In a 141-page document seen by French news agency AFP, Justice Moraes stated that Bolsonaro had led a criminal organisation conspiring against democratic institutions.
Reiterating Bolsonaro’s role in inciting the January 2023 attacks, he ruled out any reduction of the sentence.
“The ruling justifies all steps taken to calculate the punishment,” Moraes wrote. Two other justices echoed the decision shortly afterwards.
