The Brazilian judiciary sentenced Bolsonaro to eight years in prison for abuse of office

Judge Carmen Lúcia Antunes, from the High Electoral Court (TSE), deliberated this Friday Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro found guilty of abuse of power and in this way he formed a majority that is inclined to deprive him of all political rights for eight years.

“I want to say in advance that I fully support the rapporteur,” Antunes said at the start of his vote, joining three others who have already found Bolsonaro guilty of abuses of power in the election campaign that brought the progressive to power.Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva .

Antunes thus alluded to the vote of Judge Benedito Gonçalves, the reporter of the process, who sought the conviction of Bolsonaro for the meeting he convened with fifty foreign ambassadors in the official residence of the Presidency, on July 18, 2022. disqualify the electoral system and cast doubt on the impartiality of the judiciaryat the time he was seeking re-election.

Bolsonaro has previously stated that if he is disqualified, he will turn to the Supreme Court to try to regain his political rights.

“I will talk to my lawyers and there will be an appeal before the Federal Supreme Court,” the former president said hours before the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) resumed the trial against him.

The former president insisted that the trial “it has neither feet nor head» and again insinuated that TSE judges acted in favor of the progressive leader in the last election contest. “I didn’t attack the electoral system, I showed possible flaws,” he explained.

He also defended himself that he cannot be prosecuted for “fake news” because it is a term that is not defined in the law, and he invoked the right to freedom of expression, a thesis which, according to the TSE judges who voted against him, does not correspond to the case being conducted.