Brazil’s Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison for Plotting Coup

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest in Brasilia on Sept. 3. — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest in Brasilia on Sept. 3.
Photographer: Sergio Lima/AFP/Getty Images

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By Daniel Carvalho

September 11, 2025 at 6:58 PM UTC

Updated on

September 12, 2025 at 1:57 AM UTC

Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison for plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat, making him the first former president convicted of such a crime in a nation long scarred by successful and failed power grabs.

The sentence was decided on Thursday by a panel of five justices who oversaw the case. Four of them voted in favor of Bolsonaro’s conviction on charges that he sought to cling to power by plotting a military coup that included plans to assassinate President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.