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Brazil has experienced over a dozen coup attempts since becoming a republic in 1889, but it only recently prosecuted a coup leader for the first time. On September 11th, 2025, former president Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to overturn the 2022 presidential election.
The Bolsonaro verdict illustrates Brazil’s attempt to transition from a fringe partial democracy to a stable one. With this decision, Brazil convicted an undemocratic leader, breaking a long tradition of exonerating leaders who take advantage of its democratic institutions. This was accomplished by harnessing “militant democracy”, where a state aggressively maximizes the effectiveness of its institutions to prevent authoritarianism.
The Resume of an Autocrat
Jair Bolsonaro had a lengthy military career spanning Brazil’s military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985. Following this, became a member of Congress in 1991, known for his admiration of the prior military government. Eventually, Bolsonaro won the 2018 presidential election, aided by political controversies that ravaged Brazil’s prominent left-wing politicians, as president Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party was impeached in 2016 and her predecessor Lula da Silva was charged with corruption.
Bolsonaro’s presidency was marred by controversy, stemming in part from his polarizing policy decisions to shred environmental regulations which aimed to protect the Amazon rainforest. In addition, his lax attitude towards COVID-19, including his decision not to get vaccinated and public denial of the seriousness of the virus, contributed to the pandemic being more devastating in Brazil than some experts believe it needed to be.
Bolsonaro’s autocratic nature fully revealed itself during the 2022 presidential election. On election day, Bolsonaro tried to prevent supporters of opponent Lula da Silva from voting by having security forces block roads in pro-Lula regions, though this was undone at the order of Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Bolsonaro narrowly lost the election, but this was not the end of his authoritarian actions.
Following the election, it was uncovered that Bolsonaro pushed for a military-backed state of emergency to prevent Lula from taking power, along with assassination plots against both Lula and Moraes. Prosecuted by a panel of Supreme Court judges led by Moraes, Bolsonaro was found guilty of a coup attempt and of aiming to abolish the democratic rule of law, among other charges.
Looking Forward: A Change From the Historical Precedent
Since the verdict, Bolsonaro’s supporters in Congress have moved to grant Bolsonaro protection from the verdict. His former Chief of Staff was quoted saying that amnesty would “bring peace and turn the page on the conflicts.” This movement echoes the 1979 amnesty law enacted by then president Joao Figueriedo which exonerated those who committed violent political crimes during the military dictatorship.
It took until 2019 for the first case of political crimes committed under the Brazilian military dictatorship to result in a conviction. As Human Rights Watch noted, “justice should not take 50 years.”
Sidelining the Military for “Militant Democracy”
Bolsonaro’s ties to Brazil’s armed forces from the beginning of his career remain. His allies – who were tried and convicted alongside him in the coup trial – include a former navy commander and former ministers of defense and security. Bolsonaro relied heavily on appointed military members in government positions, which The Review of Democracy called a “break with post-redemocratization norms,” as appointed positions in Brazil are usually given out to politicians from a wide variety of parties with the aim of building consensus.
In an interview with the European Center for Populism Studies, legal scholar Tatiana Paula da Cruz addressed Bolsonaro’s use of military personnel in non-military positions. Indeed, Bolsonaro tactically filled key roles in government with his allies, key in his coup plan to get military leaders to declare a state of emergency and remain Brazil’s president. The scholar further contends the effort against Bolsonaro “wasn’t just the Supreme Court; the federal police, the federal prosecution, and the courts all worked together.” The movement to govern through cooperation between institutions is key in ensuring democratic stability, and is an important facet in militant democracy, a concept which emphasizes the bold use of the judiciary to proactively deal with authoritarian threats.
Militant democracy has been effectively implemented in Brazil’s Supreme Court and Superior Electoral Court, which have taken increasing measures to limit disinformation on social media. This was a direct reaction to Bolsonaro’s tactics, as he propagated disinformation on social media about Brazil’s voting machines being unreliable during the 2022 election as a way to invalidate his electoral loss.
Conclusion
It has already been alleged that Brazil’s supreme court is not unbiased. While Bolsonaro’s history of claims about bias against him is long, a verdict against Bolsonaro predicated on bias would greatly challenge Brazil’s democratic progress. On the panel that convicted him, one can notice several allies of Lulas, including his former lawyer. Nevertheless, there remains significant evidence of Bolsonaro’s intent to rescind Brazil’s democratic process, and this evidence was able to be used against Bolsonaro because of the presence of Lula allies in key positions.
The Bolsonaro verdict ensures a path to a more effective and stable democracy for Brazil is underway. While there remains a sizable push for Bolsonaro’s freedom among his political allies, Brazil is dealing with its authoritarianism far more actively than it has in the past, and is fully harnessing the powers of its institutions in doing so.
Edited by Jane Malek
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and they do not reflect the position of the McGill Journal of Political Science or the Political Science Students’ Association.
Featured image by Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters
