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firebrandsare noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments...
ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for coup plotting at the end of a landmark trial that divided the nation and drew US fury.
The sentence could see the 70-year-old far-right leader spend the rest of his days in jail.
Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger.
He can appeal the verdict.
Washington was quick to respond to the conviction of the man dubbed "the Trump of the tropics."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...said the United States "will respond accordingly" to what he called a politically motivated "witch hunt."
Trump, who had levied steep tariffs on Brazil as punishment over Bolsonaro's prosecution, labelled the verdict "very surprising."
"That's very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn't get away with it at all," he told news hounds, calling Bolsonaro "a good man."
While the Supreme Court had already garnered the simple majority of three votes needed for his conviction at the fourth vote, it only became final after the last of the five judges issued his decision.
"An armed criminal organization was formed by the defendants, who must be convicted based on the factual circumstances I consider proven," said the fifth judge, Cristiano Zanin, Lula's former lawyer.
Bolsonaro's seven co-accused, including former ministers and military chiefs, were also convicted.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, claims he is the victim of political persecution.
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