Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced a supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro to 17 years in prison on Thursday. The supporter had stormed top government offices on January 8th in an alleged attempt to forcefully reinstate Bolsonaro. Aecio Lucio Costa Pereira, 51, is the first of several participants in the uprising to face prosecution.
During the uprising, Pereira was filmed at the Senate, wearing a shirt that called for a military coup and recording a video in which he praised others who had also entered the building. Approximately 1,500 people were detained on the day of the riots, although most have already been released.
In a ruling by the majority of the 11 Supreme Court justices, Pereira was found guilty of five crimes: criminal association, staging a coup, violent attack on the rule of law, qualified damage, and destruction of public assets. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Pereira denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he participated in a peaceful demonstration of unarmed individuals.
Three other defendants in the same case were also standing trial on Thursday, with final decisions for each defendant expected in the coming days.
The rioters refused to accept Bolsonaro’s defeat to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office one week before the uprising. Lula, who previously governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010, narrowly defeated Bolsonaro.
The Congress buildings, Supreme Court, and presidential palace were severely damaged by the pro-Bolsonaro rioters. They breached security barricades, climbed onto rooftops, smashed windows, and invaded all three buildings, which were mostly empty during the incident that occurred on the weekend.
Lula and many of Bolsonaro’s critics have accused him of encouraging the uprising, and prosecutors are investigating his role in inciting the chaos. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing.
The incident drew comparisons to the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Politicians had been warning for months that a similar uprising could happen in Brazil, as Bolsonaro had cast doubt on the reliability of the country’s electronic voting system without providing any evidence.
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