A panel of five justices at Brazil’s Supreme Court has ruled by majority vote that former President Jair Bolsonaro is guilty of plotting to overthrow the results of the 2022 presidential election.
The landmark decision was reached on Thursday, when the third justice cast a decisive vote convicting Bolsonaro on all five charges. These include serious offenses such as organizing a coup attempt, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempting to dismantle the democratic order by force, acts of violence against state institutions, and destruction of public property during the January 8, 2023, attack on government buildings, CNN reports.
This ruling makes Bolsonaro the first former president in Brazil’s modern history to be convicted for attempting anti-democratic unrest.
