The Federal Supreme Court of Brazil released a partial summary of the convictions of those involved in the vandalism on January 8, 2023, in Brasília.
As of Friday (November 8), the court has sentenced 265 defendants for the crimes of armed criminal association, qualified damage, deterioration of protected property, violent abolition of the Democratic State of Law, and attempted coup d’état. The sentences range from 15 to 17 years in prison.
A total of 476 non-prosecution agreements have been signed. These allow defendants who did not directly participate in the riots at the government headquarters (Congress, the presidential residence of Planalto, and the Federal Supreme Court) to avoid conviction.
In these cases, in addition to confessing their crimes, they will have to perform community service, pay fines ranging from R$ 1,000 to R$ 5,000, comply with a ban on using social media, and participate in a course on the topics of Democracy, Rule of Law, and Coup d’État.
Recall the episode
On January 8, 2023, a large group of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded important government buildings in Brasília, the capital of the country. The protesters, many of whom believed that Bolsonaro had been unjustly defeated in the 2022 presidential election, attacked the Congress, the Federal Supreme Court, and the presidential palace, known as the Palácio do Planalto. This was a direct challenge to the newly inaugurated president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had taken office just a week earlier.
Source: Agência Brasil