SAO PAULO — Brazil’s Supreme Court justices on Wednesday started deciding whether or not to convict defendants accused of storming prime authorities workplaces on Jan. 8 in an alleged bid to forcefully restore former President Jair Bolsonaro to workplace.

Bolsonaro supporter Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, 51, was first in line.

In January, cameras on the Senate filmed him sporting a shirt calling for a navy coup and recording a video of himself praising others who had additionally damaged into the constructing. Almost 1,500 individuals had been detained on the day of the riots, although most have been launched.

Pereira denied any wrongdoing and claimed he took half in a peaceable demonstration of unarmed individuals.

The two first justices to rule had totally different takes on the alleged crimes dedicated, however each dominated that the supporter of the previous president was responsible. There are 11 justices on the Supreme Court.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur of the case on Brazil‘s Supreme Court, dominated Pereira is responsible of 5 crimes and set his sentence at 17 years in jail.

Another justice, Kássio Nunes Marques, dominated he needs to be jailed for 2 crimes, which might put him behind bars for two years and 6 months. Nunes Marques, who was picked by Bolsonaro to affix Brazil‘s top court, said there is not enough evidence to jail Pereira for the crimes of criminal association, launching a coup d’etat or violent assault to the rule of regulation.

The trial was adjourned till Thursday.

Pereira’s sentence will rely upon the votes of the remaining 9 justices but to forged their votes.

Three different defendants additionally had been standing trial Wednesday as a part of the identical case, however a remaining choice for every defendant might drag into coming days.

The rioters refused to simply accept the right-wing chief’s defeat to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose inauguration befell one week earlier than the rebellion. Lula additionally ruled Brazil between 2003-2010 and beat Bolsonaro by the narrowest margin in Brazil’s trendy historical past.

The buildings of Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace had been trashed by the pro-Bolsonaro rioters. They bypassed safety barricades, climbed onto roofs, smashed home windows and invaded all three buildings, which had been believed to be largely vacant on the weekend of the incident.

Lula has accused Bolsonaro of encouraging the rebellion.

The incident recalled the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Politicians warned for months {that a} comparable rebellion was a chance in Brazil, provided that Bolsonaro had sown doubt concerning the reliability of the nation’s digital voting system - with none proof.

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com