Lawyers for former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday submitted an 85-page appeal to the country’s Supreme Court seeking review of his 27-year prison sentence, handed down in September for his role in a failed coup attempt following his 2022 electoral defeat.
The appeal motion asks the Supreme Court to revisit aspects of Bolsonaro’s conviction, including the cumulative prison term, while not specifying the exact reduction while seeking “clarification or review of specific parts of the conviction.”
Bolsonaro was convicted by a five-judge panel last month of five crimes including leading an armed criminal organisation, attempting to violently abolish democracy and organising a coup. He received a sentence of 27 years and three months in prison.
Bolsonaro was found guilty by four out of five judges on a Supreme Court panel last month after one of the most closely watched trials in Brazil’s modern history. The conviction covered five separate offences tied to his attempt to cling to power, among them directing an armed criminal group, plotting to topple the country’s democratic system through force and coordinating a coup attempt that aimed to stop President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office.
The ruling delivered a 27 year and three month sentence, a punishment that prosecutors argued reflected the gravity of trying to overturn the will of the voters and undermine the peaceful transfer of power.
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The defence motion described “deep injustices” in the verdict and argued that Bolsonaro should not have been convicted of both organising a coup and attempting to abolish democracy for essentially the same series of acts.
Donald Trump, U.S. president,labelled the prosecution a “witch-hunt” and made it a key component of U.S.-Brazil bilateral relations.
In parallel, Bolsonaro has been under house arrest since August while his appeal is processed, and he remains legally barred from running for office until at least 2030.
Because only one justice dissented in the original ruling, the defence’s option is limited to a partial review rather than a full retrial, according to legal experts.
If the appeal fails, Bolsonaro may try to serve his sentence under house arrest due to health issues, he was recently diagnosed with skin cancer and has been hospitalised for other medical concerns.
