Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of former president Jair Bolsonaro, ruling on Tuesday that no further appeals are permitted, effectively clearing the path for him to serve a 27-year prison sentence. The decision brings a dramatic conclusion to months of legal battles stemming from an alleged coup plot designed to prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from assuming office following the 2022 elections.
Bolsonaro, 70, was convicted in September for orchestrating a scheme that sought to overturn the election results and undermine the transfer of power to Lula, a leftist rival whom he had routinely targeted throughout his presidency.
Court findings also link the conspiracy to an assassination plan, intensifying the severity of the charges and placing the former leader at the center of one of Brazil’s most destabilizing political crises in recent memory.
Earlier this month, Brazil’s Supreme Court dismissed Bolsonaro’s latest appeal, declaring the judgment final. The ruling marks a stark fall for the former army captain who electrified conservative voters to win the presidency in 2019 and left a lasting imprint on national politics through polarizing rhetoric, nationalist messaging, and institutional confrontation.
Bolsonaro had been confined to house arrest until Saturday, when he was detained at police headquarters in Brasília for tampering with his electronic ankle monitor using a soldering iron.
