Brazil’s Supreme Court sentences military officials for planning to kill Lula

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices sentenced high-ranking military officials and a federal police officer to up to 24 years in prison on Tuesday after finding them guilty of attempting a coup and plotting to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other authorities.

In September, the Supreme Court panel sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison for leading the criminal organization that sought to overturn the 2022 election, when Lula defeated Bolsonaro. At the time, the panel also sentenced other close allies who justices said formed part of the “core group.”

On Tuesday, the panel convicted those accused of planning the criminal organization’s violent actions, which included a plot to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

Of the 10 defendants forming part of this group, nine are high-ranking military officers and one a member of the federal police.

The four-justice panel unanimously convicted nine of them, acquitting a retired general due to insufficient evidence.

Seven of them were convicted of attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, attempted coup, participation in an armed criminal organization, aggravated damage and deterioration of listed heritage.

Two were convicted of the less serious offences of criminal association and public incitement of animosity between the Armed Forces and constitutional authorities.

Sentences ranged from 1 year and 11 months to 24 years, with four defendants handed down time behind bars of more than two decades.

“Brazil, once again, due to the irresponsibility and lack of patriotism of some, flirted with and almost fell into a chasm of institutional darkness,” Justice Flávio Dino said as he cast his vote, in a reference to Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1985).

“It wasn’t just a walk in the park. It was a coup that was going to arrest and kill people, revoke the constitution, citizenship and the free press. And these are not conjectures: it was written in the planning seized from these various public agents,” he added.

Last week, Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet pointed to evidence that a federal police officer infiltrated the security team of the then president-elect to enable the group’s violent plans.

The plan didn’t advance due to the Army commander’s lack of support, according to Moraes, who is overseeing the sprawling coup case.

Those convicted will only start serving time once appeals are exhausted.

That’s also the case for Bolsonaro, who has been under house arrest since August.

The panel recently rejected an appeal filed by the former president’s legal team, but another one could be submitted this week.

Bolsonaro’s trial made global headlines. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a 50% tariff on Brazilian imported goods and cited in part Bolsonaro’s case, which he called a “witch hunt.”

That triggered a sharp deterioration in U.S.-Brazil relations, which experts described as the lowest point in their more than 200-year history.

Relations have improved. Lula and Trump spoke on the phone then met last month in Malaysia at the ASEAN summit.