Brazil's Bolsonaro given 27-year term for coup plotting

BRASILIA

Brazil's Supreme Court has sentenced firebrand ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for coup plotting at the end of a landmark trial that divided the nation and drew U.S. fury.

The sentence could see the 70-year-old far-right leader spend the rest of his days in jail.

Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger.

He can appeal the verdict.

Washington was quick to respond to the conviction of the man dubbed "the Trump of the tropics."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States "will respond accordingly" to what he called a politically motivated "witch hunt."

While the Supreme Court had already garnered the simple majority of three votes needed for his conviction at the fourth vote, it only become final after the last of the five judges issued his decision.

"An armed criminal organization was formed by the defendants, who must be convicted based on the factual circumstances I consider proven," said the fifth judge, Cristiano Zanin, Lula's former lawyer.

Bolsonaro's seven co-accused, including former ministers and military chiefs, were also convicted.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, claims he is the victim of political persecution.

Apart from heading a "criminal organization," Bolsonaro was charged with knowing of a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre Moraes.

He was also convicted of inciting the violent 2023 storming of the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress in Brasilia by hundreds of his supporters, a week after Lula was inaugurated as his successor.