Sawt Falasteen - Brazil's Supreme Court begins voting in Bolsonaro coup trial

Bolsonaro, 70, risks a prison term of over 40 years if found guilty of seeking to claw back power after his defeat in 2022 elections to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, now in office.

The former head of state is in the dock on five charges with seven co-defendants that include former ministers and generals.

A panel of five judges, led by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, will vote one by one in a public session over four days to Friday whether they find Bolsonaro guilty or not, with deliberations in between.

Starting with Moraes, each judge will explain their decision, and the process allows for them to change their vote.

Setting the stage, and before casting his vote, Moraes said Tuesday the accused were "part of a criminal organization led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro."

A simple majority of three judges is needed for a guilty verdict. Only then will sentencing deliberations begin.

Bolsonaro, who claims to be the victim of political persecution, can appeal.

"If judged solely on the basis of legal elements, I am convinced that he will be acquitted," Bolsonaro's lawyer, Paulo Cunha Bueno, told reporters outside the court Tuesday.

- 'Witch hunt' -

Bolsonaro, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, stands accused of leading a "criminal organization" that conspired to overthrow Lula but failed for a lack of support from the military top brass.

He also allegedly knew of a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin and judge Moraes.

Bolsonaro is also accused of inciting the violent 2023 storming of the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress in Brasilia by hundreds of supporters who urged the military to oust Lula.

Moraes, who has repeatedly clashed with Bolsonaro and other right-wing figures in disinformation cases, was placed under financial sanctions by Washington, which accuses Brasilia of persecution in the coup case.

Trump denounced a "witch hunt" against his ally and has slapped a 50-percent tariff on many imports from Brazil as punishment.

Moraes vowed in response the court would not bow to "internal or external threats and coercion."

There were fresh threats on Monday, with US State Department official Darren Beattie writing on X: "For Justice Alexandre de Moraes and the individuals whose abuses of authority have undermined... fundamental freedoms -- we will continue to take appropriate action."

- Amnesty? -

The trial is the first of a Brazilian former head of state on coup charges.

For many Brazilians it is a test of democracy 40 years after the end of military dictatorship, for others a political show trial.

On Sunday, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters demonstrated in several cities to denounce the trial as a "disgrace" and thank Trump for his intervention.

Bolsonaro detractor Mauricio de Aquino Costa, a 54-year-old teacher, told AFP in Brasilia Tuesday it gave him "great joy to live through this moment in Brazilian history."

A guilty verdict could scupper Bolsonaro's hopes of making a Trump-style comeback from a criminal conviction to the country's top job.

Previously found guilty of falsely casting doubt on Brazil's electronic voting system, he has been disqualified from holding public office until 2030.

Bolsonaro had been hoping to have that finding overturned to stand in elections next year that Lula, 79, will also contest.

Fearing his conviction is imminent, allies are pushing Congress to pass an amnesty law to save Bolsonaro from prison.

Bolsonaro followed Tuesday's hearing from his residence in Brasilia where he has been under house arrest since last month.

Lawyers have said he is in ill health, suffering the effects of being stabbed in the abdomen at a campaign rally in 2018.

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST