November 26, 2025 | 01:58 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to begin serving a 27-year prison sentence, after his defense team declined to file a second appeal. The decision effectively puts the ruling into immediate effect.
According to Al Jazeera, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a central figure in Bolsonaro’s trial, made the announcement on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. The court said Bolsonaro will start his sentence at the Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is currently being held.
Bolsonaro was convicted in September for attempting to stage a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 presidential election.
The former leader was found guilty of undermining the democratic order, orchestrating a coup plot, joining an armed conspiracy, damaging public property, and contributing to the destruction of protected national heritage sites.
He received a sentence of 27 years and three months. Although enforcement was initially delayed pending appeal, the court rejected the petition submitted by Bolsonaro and his legal team.
Legal Case Against Jair Bolsonaro
Bolsonaro, a member of the right-wing Liberal Party (PL) and a former army captain, served nearly three decades in the Chamber of Deputies before winning the presidency in 2019.
Critics long accused him of using his position to erode public trust in Brazil’s voting system, accusations that culminated in a 2023 ruling by the High Electoral Court that found he had abused his power.
He narrowly lost the 2022 election to leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Despite media reports suggesting he privately acknowledged his defeat to the Supreme Court, Bolsonaro publicly refused to concede and instead sought to challenge the results, claiming electoral “discrepancies.”
Justice de Moraes dismissed the complaint as baseless and filed in “bad faith,” issuing a fine of nearly US$4.3 million against Bolsonaro’s party. Meanwhile, waves of protests erupted across Brazil, with Bolsonaro’s supporters blocking highways and attacking police facilities.
The tensions culminated on January 8, 2023, one week after Lula took office, when mobs stormed key government buildings in Brasilia’s Three Powers Plaza.
The riots triggered multiple federal investigations. In November 2024, federal police released an 884-page report outlining evidence that Bolsonaro and close allies had attempted to overturn the election and provoke a military insurrection.
Investigators cited recordings and testimony suggesting some military figures aligned with Bolsonaro had even discussed poisoning Lula and assassinating Justice de Moraes.
Bolsonaro was formally charged in February and went on trial, though he and his defense team repeatedly dismissed the allegations as politically motivated. He insisted he was innocent.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump also intervened, pressuring the Brazilian government to drop the case, imposing a 50 percent tariff on certain exports, and calling the prosecution a “witch hunt.”
Since August, Bolsonaro had been under house arrest amid fears he might flee. In 2024, he spent several nights in the Hungarian embassy, prompting speculation he was seeking asylum from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Police later found a letter addressed to Argentine President Javier Milei in which Bolsonaro claimed political persecution and requested asylum. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal to overturn the conviction.
On Saturday, police detained Bolsonaro after discovering he had tampered with his ankle monitor, leading to the enforcement of his 27-year prison term.
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