As Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday began weighing the fate of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is charged with planning a coup after losing an election, Mr. Bolsonaro himself was not there.
He did not appear in court because of poor health, his defense team told reporters outside the courthouse. Ahead of the trial, one of his sons told a Brazilian news site Mr. Bolsonaro had been suffering from debilitating hiccups that the former president attributes to complications from a stabbing attack on the campaign trail in 2018.
Mr. Bolsonaro, 70, has been under house arrest, wearing an ankle monitor, for weeks. Then, over the weekend, Brazilian authorities tightened security measures, placing police officers around his home amid worries that he may try to flee and possibly seek refuge at the U.S. Embassy near his home.
Prosecutors accuse Mr. Bolsonaro and seven members of his inner circle of overseeing a vast conspiracy to cling to power after his defeat at the polls in 2022, seeking to overturn the results, trying to enlist the military in their plot and drafting plans to poison Mr. Bolsonaro’s rival, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is now Brazil’s president.
Mr. Bolsonaro and the other defendants face criminal charges, including the “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law” and “coup d’état.” If found guilty, Mr. Bolsonaro could be sentenced to more than 40 years in prison.
Mr. Bolsonaro denies he plotted a coup or planned to kill Mr. Lula but, in pretrial testimony in June, he told the court that he had “studied ways within the Constitution” to remain in power after his electoral defeat. Most analysts, pointing to a trove of evidence, expect a majority of the five-member Supreme Court panel to convict Mr. Bolsonaro.
In his opening statement, Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Court, who is overseeing the case, said that “impunity” for those involved in the plot was not an option.
The proceedings opened on Tuesday amid heightened security around the Supreme Court. Dogs trained to sniff for explosives swept the building, and the police used a drone to monitor the area.
Inside, police officers stood guard in the hallways and inside the small courtroom where the Supreme Court justices were deliberating the case. Security teams tasked with safeguarding the justices were placed on high alert, and emergency plans for evacuations, if needed, had been drafted, according to Brazilian authorities.
Journalists and lawyers for the defendants packed the room, but only one of the accused appeared in court. Members of the public watched a livestream of the proceedings in a neighboring courtroom.
The trial is the final step in proceedings that have lasted months. In pretrial sessions, the justices already heard from more than 50 witnesses as well as all the defendants. The final phase is scheduled to unfold over the next two weeks, with a verdict and a possible sentence expected as early as Sept. 12.
In Brazil, which lived through a brutal military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, the criminal prosecution of a president and his powerful military allies is seen by many as a victory for democracy.
But the trial has also set off a diplomatic crisis between the Western Hemisphere’s two most populous nations, as President Trump has come to the aid of Mr. Bolsonaro, his political ally, and tried to bully Brazil into dropping the case.
In July, Mr. Trump threatened Brazil with tariffs, demanding it end what he called a “witch hunt” targeting Mr. Bolsonaro. He followed through, imposing 50 percent tariffs on Brazil and applying sanctions on Justice Moraes.
One of his sons has also been aggressively lobbying the White House to help his father.
During Tuesday’s opening remarks, Justice Moraes condemned efforts by Mr. Bolsonaro and his son to seek Mr. Trump’s intervention, calling their actions cowardly and treacherous.
“This coercion, this attempted obstruction,” he said, “will not affect the impartiality and independence of the judges of this Supreme Court.”
Janaina Camelo contributed reporting.
Ana Ionova is a contributor to The Times based in Rio de Janeiro, covering Brazil and neighboring countries.
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