Brazil's Bolsonaro says rushed trial aims to block his reelection bid
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The former Brazilian president says the trial was set up to "interfere with the country's political and electoral dynamics," and described it as a "legal attack on democracy."
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Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks to the press at Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, on March 26, 2025 (AP)
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court's decision to expedite his trial in the case of the 2022 failed coup was intended to prevent him from running for president in October 2026.
Bolsonaro is set to stand trial for allegedly planning a coup following his 2022 election loss, according to the Brazilian Supreme Court on Wednesday.
A five-judge panel reached a unanimous decision to put Bolsonaro on trial, ruling that there was enough evidence for all the suspects to face prosecution and be publicly declared as defendants.
Bolsonaro took to X to claim the case was being "conducted 14 times faster" than the Mensalao case [a vote-buying scandal in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration in 2005-2012] and at least 10 times faster than Lula's in the Lava Jato [an embezzlement scandal involving Petrobras oil and gas company].
He claimed the trial was set up to "interfere with the country's political and electoral dynamics," and described it as a "legal attack on democracy."
Bolsonaro was formally charged in February over an alleged coup plot aimed at overturning his 2022 election defeat, as well as accusations of involvement in a plan to kill his political rival, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet’s office announced the charges, which implicate 34 individuals, including the 69-year-old right-wing leader. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing, claiming the case is an act of political persecution by investigators.
Should Bolsonaro be found guilty in the proceedings, which are expected to take place later this year, he could face a lengthy prison sentence, effectively isolating the far-right firebrand, who has notably refrained from naming a political successor.
The Supreme Court ruled that seven other close allies of the ex-president must also face trial for charges that include participation in an armed criminal organization, attempting a coup d’état, and violently trying to dismantle Brazilian democracy.
The former president's allies who face trial are: former defense ministers Gen Walter Braga Netto and Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; former navy commander, Adm Almir Garnier Santos; former security minister, Anderson Torres; former spy chief Alexandre Ramagem; former minister for institutional security, Gen Augusto Heleno; and former assistant, Lt Col Mauro Cid, who, if convicted, will receive a lighter sentence after he struck a plea deal with prosecutors.
The former officials are accused of being at the core of an extensive conspiracy aimed at keeping Bolsonaro in power following his narrow defeat in the 2022 presidential election to his left-wing rival, Lula.
