00:00It was a conclusion of a landmark trial in Brazil.
00:03The Supreme Court sentenced Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison
00:06for plotting to overthrow his successor and rival,
00:10Luiz Inácio da Silva, after his 2022 election defeat.
00:15It's one of Brazil's biggest trials in recent years.
00:19Much of the left saw it as a vital test for the country's democracy,
00:22while some on the right thought it was a witch hunt.
00:25The trial has also led to a crisis in relations
00:28with longtime ally, the United States.
00:30Tim Vickery reports.
00:32The battleground now will be inside Brazil's Congress,
00:37where the right wing are strong
00:38and they are formulating a project for an amnesty.
00:43Now, the Supreme Court giving the sentence today
00:46already made it very, very clear
00:49that any kind of amnesty or pardon for crimes against democracy
00:54cannot happen because it's unconstitutional.
00:57That won't stop the move in Congress.
01:00So that's a battleground.
01:02In terms of the general population,
01:04I think many are quite tired of the polarisation.
01:08Opinion polls would seem to show a majority
01:09in favour of the conviction of Bolsonaro,
01:13but never underestimate the force of his support.
01:17Giving evidence a few months ago in this very case,
01:21Bolsonaro described those of his supporters
01:24involved in the riots on the 8th of January 2023
01:27as a bunch of crazies.
01:29Never really sure how far they can go.
01:32A few days before January the 8th,
01:33there was a plot to explode Brasilia Airport
01:37from some of his supporters.
01:39So I think people will await events
01:41over the next few days with a certain dose of tension.
01:45This happened on the 11th of September,
01:4752 years to the day since the US-backed coup in Chile
01:51that brought President Pinochet to power.
01:54A few years before that,
01:56there was a coup in Brazil in 1964.
01:58That carried on until the mid-'80s.
02:00The judges, all in their lifetime,
02:04and that was something they really stressed.
02:06They had the living experience of dictatorship.
02:09They wanted to send a strong message in their sentences
02:11that Brazil should not suffer any more attempted coup d'etat.
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