00:00It was the conclusion of a landmark and divisive trial in Brazil.
00:05The Supreme Court sentenced Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison.
00:09Judges voted four to one to convict the firebrand ex-president
00:12for plotting to overthrow his successor and rival,
00:15Luis Inacio da Silva, after his 2022 election defeat.
00:20It was one of Brazil's biggest and most divisive trials in recent history.
00:24Much of the left saw it as a vital test for the country's democracy,
00:26while some on the right thought it was a witch hunt.
00:29It also led to an unprecedented crisis in relations between the United States and Brazil.
00:35From our international desk, Andrew Hillier joins us.
00:38Hello to you, Andrew.
00:39First of all, it's a big trial.
00:42Brazilians glued to the TV and social media watching this conclusion.
00:47Just how significant was it?
00:50This is an extremely significant decision.
00:52This is, you know, ever since Brazil overthrew its monarchy back in 1889,
00:59there have been 15 coups or coup attempts linked to the military will.
01:04And this is the first time a leader linked to a plot has been convicted.
01:09So it is very significant indeed for Brazil.
01:12Four out of five judges on the Supreme Court panel voting to convict him.
01:16The judges ruling that he was guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 presidential election.
01:26He's also been barred from running for public office until 2033.
01:30And, Will, many of the judges in making their rulings referred to Brazil's recent history under a military dictatorship.
01:38The judge overseeing the trial, a very well-known figure, Alexander de Moraes, said Brazil had come close to returning to a dictatorship
01:46because, he said, a criminal organisation doesn't know how to lose an election.
01:52Justice Carmen Lucia, she's the judge who cast that decisive third guilty vote,
01:58compared Bolsonaro's coup attempt to a virus which can fester and kill the society in which it has taken hold.
02:06However, just important to point out, he's not going to prison just yet.
02:10His lawyers have already said that they find the sentence absurdly excessive and they say they will appeal it.
02:18Yeah. What has international reaction been to this?
02:21Well, as you may expect, some of the most striking reaction has come from the U.S.
02:26Donald Trump, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump, an ardent supporter and ally of Jair Bolsonaro.
02:31He's consistently called this trial against his ally, Witch Hunt.
02:34He's used tariffs as a political weapon, if you will, to exert pressure on Brazil's authorities to call off the trial,
02:43raising them to 50 percent on Brazilian products.
02:47The U.S. administration also revoking visas for members of Brazil's high court.
02:53Brazil hasn't flinched, however.
02:55U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reacting, saying the U.S.
02:59will respond appropriately to what it called, again, a witch hunt.
03:03We'll have to wait and see what that reaction entails.
03:07And as you can imagine, that has all triggered a very fiery response from the Brazilian authorities
03:11to Brazil's foreign ministry, saying earlier that Rubio's threats,
03:16which it says ignores facts and evidence, will not intimidate their democracy.
03:21Bolsonaro's critics might feel like justice hasn't been served,
03:23but is political movement unlikely to disappear?
03:27Yeah, well, the first thing to point out, Will, is that this is, as you may expect,
03:30this has been a very polarizing trial.
03:33And just to give you an idea of that,
03:35I want you to take a listen to these Brazilians reacting to the verdict.
03:38Justice Carmen Luizia's vote was enough to convict Bolsonaro and seven others
03:46who committed numerous crimes in an attempt to abolish the democratic rule of law and stage a coup.
03:52This joy shows that our country wants something different.
03:54It does not want a coup.
04:00We're asking for help from the United States,
04:02a country that has a history of fighting communism,
04:05and has seen that the injustice here is clear and has already crossed the borders of Brazil.
04:10The entire world is seeing what's happening, a tremendous injustice.
04:16Yeah, quite striking remarks there from one of Jair Bolsonaro's supporters.
04:19One mustn't forget that Bolsonaro only lost the 2022 presidential election
04:25in a second round runoff by 1.8% of the vote.
04:29That's a very slim margin, of course.
04:30He still does also have a hardcore base of support
04:34in what's sometimes referred to as Brazil's Bible, beef and bullet group of voters.
04:40Those are evangelical Christians, farmers and gun rights activists.
04:44And if it sounds familiar, Will, that's because it is familiar, of course.
04:46This is a Brazilian variant of the right-wing populist politics
04:51that we've seen in the US, in Hungary, amongst other places.
04:55And it's very powerful.
04:58You know, Bolsonaro's supporters, I think also, and Bolsonaro himself,
05:01will also feel partially vindicated by that one dissenting voice amongst the judges there,
05:07that one judge that cast a vote to acquit Bolsonaro.
05:10So even though we may be seeing the back of Bolsonaro,
05:14we're not necessarily seeing the back of Bolsonaro's divisive brand of politics.
05:18That will likely outlive Bolsonaro himself.
05:22All right, Andrew.
