Top Brazil court convicts first defendants in capital rampage case

Brazil's Supreme Court has sentenced two defendants to heavy jail terms on charges including an attempted coup, in the first verdict over the riots by supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.

The court on Thursday sentenced 51-year-old Aecio Pereira and 43-year-old Thiago Mathar to 17 and 14 years in prison, respectively, for their role in the riots that overran the seat of power in Brasilia on January 8.

After a trial that began only Wednesday, the court's 11 justices ruled unanimously to convict Pereira, with a majority finding him guilty on all five charges he faced for invading the Congress building on January 8.

Overwhelming security, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters also stormed the presidential palace and the high court itself that day, trashing the seat of power in Brasilia as they called on the military to oust leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"The [rioters'] objective was to violently seize Brasilia and spread a criminal attack against the rule of law across the country," Justice Cristiano Zanin said on Thursday in delivering his ruling.

The riots deeply shook a nation still divided by Lula's narrow win over Bolsonaro in Brazil's October 2022 presidential race and drew inevitable comparisons to the invasion of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, by supporters of then-president Donald Trump – Bolsonaro's political role model.

Pereira, who denied wrongdoing, made an obscenity-laced cell-phone video of himself at the Senate president's table during the invasion, wearing a T-shirt marked "Military Intervention" and urging fellow Bolsonaro supporters to "take to the streets."

Eight of the court's judges ruled to convict him on all five charges he faced: a violent uprising against the rule of law, attempted coup, armed criminal conspiracy, damaging a national heritage site and aggravated property destruction.

Three ruled to convict him on only some of the charges, with a lighter jail term than the 17 years he was ultimately sentenced to.

Second trial

Lawyers for Pereira, reportedly a former employee of the Sao Paulo municipal sanitation company, told the court their client was unarmed and committed no acts of violence.

Defence attorney Sebastiao Coelho da Silva called the trial "politically motivated." Pereira was the first to be tried over the riots, in an initial batch of four cases before the Supreme Court.

Each of the defendants faces a total of up to 30 years in prison.

The second trial opened on Thursday after a brief recess.

A lawyer for the defendant, 43-year-old Mathar, told the court his client had only entered the presidential palace seeking shelter when clashes broke out between protesters and police.

"He wanted a better country, he wasn't there to cause trouble," he said.

But 10 justices ruled to find Mathar guilty, with lead judge Alexandre de Moraes handing him a 14-year prison sentence and saying, "The defendant ... came here to participate in a coup, to overthrow a democratically elected government."

Moraes said investigators had identified Mathar in security camera footage that showed him "blatantly coming out of the office of the president of the republic."

Hundreds to be tried, thousands investigated

In all, the high court plans to hear 232 cases involving the most serious alleged crimes committed during the riots.

Prosecutors are also investigating more than 1,000 others over the attacks, mostly on lesser charges that could be settled in plea bargains.

Investigators are also working to trace the financial backers behind the protests and establish whether police and army officers played a role.

Seven Brasilia police commanders were arrested last month for dereliction of duty in connection with the riots.

Bolsonaro, who was in the United States at the time, faces investigation over accusations of inciting the riots.

The 68-year-old ex-army captain is also under investigation over various allegations of corruption and abuse of office. Bolsonaro denies wrongdoing.