Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to stand trial on charges of plotting a coup, in a case that could torpedo his hopes of making a Donald Trump-style political comeback.
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The trial will be the first of an ex-leader accused of attempting to take power by force since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985 following two decades of military dictatorship.
A five-judge panel of the Supreme Court voted unanimously to put Bolsonaro on trial after finding there was sufficient evidence against him.
Bolsonaro was not in court for the ruling, but in comments to reporters after the announcement slammed the allegations as “unfounded”.
If convicted, the 70-year-old former army captain, who had nurtured hopes of standing in elections next year, risks a jail term of over 40 years and political exile.
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Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019-2022, is accused of leading a “criminal organisation” that conspired to keep him in power regardless of the outcome of the 2022 election. He lost to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva by a razor-thin margin.