Jair Bolsonaro absent from trial on coup charges, citing health issues
The former president of Brazil, who is not required to appear, is monitoring the Supreme Court’s final deliberations from his home, where he remains under house arrest
Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the main defendant in the most consequential trial in recent Brazilian history, has cited health reasons for not appearing this Tuesday at the Supreme Court for the initial session of deliberations on the verdict. The former president (2019–2022), who was not required to attend, has been following the trial from his home in Brasília, where he remains under house arrest. The far-right politician is accused of leading an attempted coup to avoid handing power to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after losing the 2022 election. Bolsonaro, 70, is being tried alongside seven collaborators, including several former military ministers.
The session began with a passionate speech by the presiding judge, Alexandre de Moraes, defending the strength of Brazil’s institutions and criticizing the “attempt to subject the judiciary to the scrutiny of another state,” without explicitly mentioning the United States or President Donald Trump.
Bolsonaro suffers from severe bouts of hiccups, among other health problems, stemming from a stabbing attack during the 2018 presidential campaign by a man with psychiatric issues. Allies who have visited him at his residence in recent days report that his symptoms have worsened, resulting in esophagitis. They also say he is irritable and downcast. Only one of the eight defendants, former defense minister Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, chose to attend the session in person.
This is a historic trial for Brazil because, in 135 years of the republic, no high-ranking military officer — or president — has ever been held accountable in court for attempting to subvert the democratic order. The judges have emphasized the transparency of the deliberations, which are broadcast live on YouTube. At times, the channel has drawn up to 20,000 viewers.
Attorney General Paulo Gonet outlined the evidence on which he seeks convictions for the eight defendants for multiple crimes, including violence against the rule of law, membership in an armed organization, and damage to public property. Among the confiscated drafts “was even the speech Bolsonaro would have delivered after the coup.”
He also recalled the courtroom testimonies of the heads of the Army and Air Force, to whom Bolsonaro presented decrees containing emergency measures — drafts that included annulling the elections, detaining authorities, and intervening in the Supreme Court. A plan to assassinate the head of state, Lula, and his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, was also discovered.
Judge Moraes, 56, began the session with a passionate defense of Brazil’s institutional strength. He emphasized the need to respond with the full force of the law to coup attempts. “History teaches us that impunity, omission, and cowardice are not options for pacification,” he said, stressing that “impunity leaves traumatic scars on society and corrodes democracy.”
Moraes also criticized the Trump administration’s pressure campaign, which imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil — the highest in the world. The judge did not elaborate because everyone listening understood the reference when he warned that the court would issue its verdict based on the evidence, “regardless of threats, coercion, and internal or external pressures,” and that sovereignty is non-negotiable. This was clearly a nod to lobbying by Eduardo Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro’s son and a congressman, to prompt Trump and his administration to pressure Brazil in order to protect his father from justice and imprisonment.
The White House responded harshly. Jason Miller, a top Trump advisor, replied to Moraes on X (formerly Twitter) saying: “Noted. And it would be wise for the Supreme Court and Alexandre to know that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”
Judge Moraes is accompanied by controversy, but his colleagues on the Supreme Court have granted him broad powers to investigate the anti-democratic acts that culminated in the assault on the seats of Brazil’s three branches of government in Brasília. The Supreme Court is regarded as one of the main bulwarks defending democracy against the attacks of Bolsonarism. A martial arts enthusiast, Moraes — who has served as a minister and cultivates political relationships — favors a tough hand and exemplary sentences.
He has noted that nearly 700 people have been convicted for participating in the 2023 assaults on the Planalto Presidential Palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court itself, and that another 50 or so accepted plea deals acknowledging the attempt at a coup in exchange for avoiding criminal charges.
Bolsonaro and the core group behind the attempted uprising — which includes a former presidential secretary who confessed to the plot — are being tried by the Supreme Court’s first chamber, composed of five judges. Deliberations will enter a crucial phase next Tuesday, September 9, when Judge Moraes is scheduled to open the round of voting on the verdict.
The Attorney General has emphasized that the uprising “was not completed due to the loyalty [to the Constitution] of the heads of the Army and Air Force.” The Navy chief, however, reportedly offered naval troops, according to the prosecution. For this reason, he is charged, and like Bolsonaro, could face several decades in prison. Bolsonaro faces five charges totaling more than 40 years and is also accused of leading the conspiracy.
Brazil is a young democracy of 40 years that, over the past century, has experienced frequent military interventions, multiple coup attempts, two dictatorships, a transition to democracy marked by broad amnesty, and two presidential impeachment proceedings. Bolsonaro, who held a congressional seat for three decades before becoming president, turned nostalgia for the last dictatorship (1964–1985) into a defining feature of his political identity, alongside his advocacy for military interests.
A former Army captain, Bolsonaro still wields significant political capital, now contested by his family and some right-wing governors, with an eye on running as a presidential candidate in 2025.
Columnist Hélio Schwartsman wrote in Folha de S.Paulo this Tuesday that “the worrying aspect is that, however well-founded Bolsonaro’s conviction may be, a not insignificant portion of the electorate will consider it illegitimate.”
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