São Paulo, Brazil, Jun 16 (EFE).- Former congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), was convicted Tuesday by the Supreme Court of obstruction of justice for his efforts to lobby the United States government into imposing sanctions against Brazil.
The four justices of the First Chamber of the Supreme Court voted unanimously to convict Eduardo Bolsonaro, and agreed to sentence him to 4 years and 2 months in prison, plus a fine of 50 daily fines, one day’s fine being equivalent to two minimum wages which adds to over 30,000 US dollars.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the presiding judge in the case, stated that Eduardo Bolsonaro admitted to traveling to the United States in 2025 to lobby the government to impose sanctions against the judges prosecuting his father, with the intention of preventing a potential conviction.
The former president, a leader of Brazil’s far right, was sentenced in September to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup d’état after losing the 2022 election to his successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
During his remarks, De Moraes showed several videos of statements and interviews in which the former congressman refers to the efforts he made in Washington to promote sanctions against Brazil and against the Supreme Court justices.
“The threats materialized in the form of sanctions against justices of this Court, against the Attorney General of the Republic, and against Brazil, through tariffs,» De Moraes said.
The justices also rejected the motions to dismiss the case filed by Bolsonaro’s defense team, which alleged the judge’s supposed bias and deficiencies in the notification to the defendant.
Public defender Esdras dos Santos Carvalho, the court-appointed attorney representing the former congressman, denied the allegations, arguing that his client merely engaged in “political dialogue” with the US government and that his actions were protected by the right to freedom of speech.
Carvalho emphasized that Bolsonaro “had no decision-making power over US foreign policy” and did not resort to violence or serious threats, circumstances that are necessary for the crime of coercion.”
This argument was rejected by the judges, who interpreted that the victim of those threats was the Brazilian judicial system.
Eduardo Bolsonaro moved to the United States in February 2025 to strengthen his ties with US President Donald Trump.
Last year, the US government imposed sanctions on several Brazilian Supreme Court justices who tried and convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a coup d’état.
Washington also justified the imposition of tariffs on Brazil in connection with the legal proceedings against Bolsonaro, which Trump described as a “witch hunt.”
The former president’s son and brother of Senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro remains in the United States; therefore, he did not participate in person in the trial and was represented by a court-appointed attorney.
The trial took place in the First Chamber of the Supreme Court, composed of four progressive justices, including Cristino Zanin, Lula’s former lawyer, and Flávio Dino, a former minister in Lula’s government. EFE
mp/mcd
