The riots in Brasilia had shaken Brazilian democracy in January, the first sentences fell on Thursday: 17 and 14 years in prison for two supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, sentences which are intended to be exemplary.
A large majority among the 11 judges of the Supreme Court found Aecio Lucio Costa Pereira, 51, and Thiago Mathar, 43, guilty of the five charges against them.
January 8 “was not a Sunday stroll. It was a Sunday of devastation, the day of infamy,” said Rosa Weber, president of the highest court in the country, where this first trial of Bolsonarista rioters began on Wednesday.
That day, a week after the inauguration of left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, thousands of people refusing to accept his election over Jair Bolsonaro stormed the emblematic Three Powers Square in Brasilia, the heart of Brazilian democracy.
The shadow of the US Capitol
Protesters invaded the presidential palace, Parliament and the Supreme Court itself, in scenes that recalled the assault on the Capitol in Washington by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.
The damage was considerable, with, beyond broken windows or torn seats, the destruction of works of art of inestimable value, in futuristic buildings designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer.
Coup attempt
Aecio Lucio Costa Pereira, originally from the state of Sao Paulo, was found guilty of attempted coup d’état, criminal association and deterioration of classified public heritage.
He will also have to pay an individual fine, and contribute to compensation “for moral harm and collective material damage” of 30 million reais (approximately 5.8 million euros), with the other people convicted for these riots. Brazilian prosecutors have initiated proceedings against 232 people in total.
“The objective was, by using violence, to put Brasilia under siege and to spread throughout the country the practice of criminal acts that undermine the rule of law,” said Cristiano Zanin, a judges who voted on Thursday.
Judge Rapporteur Alexandre de Moraes, who first proposed the 17-year prison sentence, said the protesters wanted to “convince the army to support a coup.”
He showed during the trial a video shared by Aecio Lucio Costa Pereira on social networks in which he had filmed himself in the Senate chamber, celebrating the invasion and wearing a t-shirt flanked by the words “Military intervention” . His lawyer claimed that his client was the victim of a “political trial”. According to him, unlike other Bolsonarists, he “did not commit the slightest act of violence”.
Investigation against Bolsonaro
The second convict, Thiago Mathar, was seen in the presidential palace during the riots. According to his defense, he only entered there to take shelter during clashes between the police and the rioters on the Place des Trois powers.
“He just wanted a better Brazil, he was not there to cause trouble,” his lawyer said. This did not prevent the majority of judges from sentencing him to 14 years of imprisonment.
During the riots, the police seemed totally overwhelmed, while intelligence services had identified the massive arrival of supporters of the former head of state by bus the day before in the political capital.
This lack of preparation was all the more surprising since the Bolsonaristas were mobilized the day after his defeat in the October presidential election, demonstrating in front of barracks to demand military intervention.
Jair Bolsonaro, who was in the United States on January 8, is under investigation aimed in particular at discovering whether he played a role in instigating the violence. He categorically denies any involvement. At the end of June, he was sentenced to eight years of ineligibility for disseminating false information about the electoral system before the vote.