Brazil’s President Hopes ‘Justice Is Served’ In Bolsonaro Trial

AFP/APP

Tokyo: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday he hopes “justice is served” to far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro, who will stand trial on charges of plotting a coup.

The country’s Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to put Bolsonaro on trial in a case that could torpedo his hopes of making a Donald Trump-style political comeback.

It will be the first trial 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.

Bolsonaro was not in court for the unanimous ruling by the five-judge panel, but in comments to reporters he slammed the allegations as “unfounded.”

“It seems they have something personal against me,” he said.

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 banishment.

Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019 to 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 Lula by a razor-thin margin.

Investigators say that after Bolsonaro’s defeat, but while he was still in office, the coup plotters planned to declare a state of emergency so that new elections could be held.

He is also accused of being aware of a plot to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes a Bolsonaro foe and one of the judges in the current case.

“I only hope that justice is served,” Lula told reporters on Thursday during a state visit to Japan.

“It’s obvious the former president tried to stage a coup, he knows he tried to assassinate me, he knows he tried to assassinate the vice president and everyone knows what he did,” he said.