Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday, October 2, sentenced three supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to heavy sentences for attempted coup d’état during the Brasilia riots in January.
At the end of a week-long trial before eleven judges of the Federal Supreme Court, Moacir José dos Santos, 52, was sentenced to seventeen years in prison. Joao Giffoni, 26, and Davis Baek, 42, were sentenced to twelve and fourteen years in prison respectively. The Court also fined the three defendants 30 million reais (5.7 million euros) each.
On January 8, 2022, a week after the inauguration of left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, thousands of people refusing to accept his election over Jair Bolsonaro stormed the emblematic Three Powers Square in Brasilia , heart of Brazilian democracy.
Protesters invaded the presidential palace, Parliament and the Supreme Court, in scenes that recalled the assault on the Capitol in Washington by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021. The damage was considerable, with the destruction of Priceless works of art in the futuristic buildings designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer.
The reporting judge, Alexandre de Moraes, found that Moacir José dos Santos was part of a “criminal group” that sought “institutional rupture through a coup d’état, military intervention and the end of the democratic rule of law.” The accused was convicted of all the crimes with which he was accused, including those of “coup d’état” and “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law”.
In September, during the first trial of the riots, three other people were sentenced to sentences ranging from fourteen to seventeen years in prison.
In total, Brazilian prosecutors have already initiated proceedings against 232 people and investigations continue to unmask the “masterminds” of the plot and determine responsibilities within the police and the army. Jair Bolsonaro, who was in the United States on January 8, is under investigation to discover whether he played a role in instigating the violence. He categorically denies any involvement.