Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers have testified before a panel of five justices on the Supreme Court of Brazil that their client was denied a fair hearing on charges that he plotted a coup d’etat.
Within a few days, the case will be decided. However, Bolsonaro’s defense team argued on Wednesday that anything less than an acquittal would constitute a miscarriage of justice.
The trial was allegedly hurried because of political reasons, according to Bolsonaro’s attorneys.
Lawyer Celso Vilardi told the Supreme Court, “We did not have access to the evidence, nor did we have enough time to go through it.”
However, Vilardi claimed that Bolsonaro’s involvement in the alleged election-tobering plot in Brazil in 2022 was unconfirmed by the court.
Changing a vote?
In a run-off against current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro, was the incumbent’s defeat in that election.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain and far-right leader, is accused of attempting to stoke unrest to maintain power by clinging to power with his allies.
Bolsonaro and his supporters planned to declare a “state of siege,” which would elicit military action and a new election, according to evidence presented by the prosecution. Lula, his left-wing rival, was allegedly poisoned by one aide.
Bolsonaro has defended any wrongdoing, portraying the trial as a political success story.
He is accused of participating in an armed criminal organization, attempting a coup, and attempting to overthrow the democratic rule of law.
The property damage that occurred on January 8, 2023 when Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia to protest his defeat is one of the charges. Some rioters claimed that the military should step in if necessary.
Federal police released the case’s evidence in an 884-page report in November 2024, and Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet filed the charges in February.
Since then, the case has become a global spectacle, with international leaders like Donald Trump speaking out against it.
A trial in a high stakes
The verdict will serve as a test for Brazil’s only four-decade-old democracy, according to some critics.
The case, however, serves as an illustration of the government’s efforts to censor right-wing voices for Bolsonaro’s supporters. Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports to the US in protest of the former president’s prosecution. Bolsonaro is seen as an ally by Trump.
In a 19th-century case in France that attracted international condemnation, defense attorney Paulo Cunha Bueno compared Bolsonaro’s trial to the wrongful conviction of Jewish army officer Alfred Dreyfus at Wednesday’s hearing.
Cunha Bueno told the Supreme Court, “Acquittal is absolutely necessary to prevent us from having our version of the Dreyfus case.”
Bolsonaro is not Jewish. He has reportedly missed the courtroom in recent days due to a stabbing injury he sustained while campaigning in 2018.
However, his attorneys have sought to disprove the facts surrounding the case in the trial’s final days.
They questioned the status of a plea deal reached with one of Bolsonaro’s co-accused, Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, a state witness. Additionally, they noted that the trial may have been rushed to prevent the 2026 general election from happening again.
Son requests Bolsonaro’s amnesty.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro’s son, has argued that the Supreme Court is biased against his father outside of court: Lula’s former justice minister was represented by one justice, Flavio Dino, and Lula’s lawyer, Cristiano Zanin.
Flavio Bolsonaro has also stated that he is urging the Brazilian Congress to pass an amnesty law to protect his father and the rioters from the capital attack in 2023.
On Tuesday, Flavio Bolsonaro told reporters that “we will work for a broad, general, and unlimited amnesty.”
Eduardo Bolsonaro, another son of the ex-president, reportedly has visited Trump on several occasions in the White House.
However, any bias claim has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Justice Alexandre de Moraes stated that the court would not cling to pressure from outside, including Trump, at the hearing’s opening.
De Moraes argued that “national sovereignty cannot, should not, and will never be vilified, negotiated, or extorted.”
