Brazil’s Supreme Court has handed down prison sentences of up to 24 years to senior military officers and a federal police agent after ruling that they took part in an attempted coup and a plot to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other senior officials.

A four-judge Supreme Court panel delivered its ruling on Tuesday, convicting nine of the ten defendants on charges that included the attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and participation in an armed criminal organisation. Sentences range from one year and eleven months to 24 years, with four defendants receiving prison terms of more than two decades. One retired general was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

The court concluded that the group planned violent actions aimed at overturning the 2022 election, which Lula won against former President Jair Bolsonaro. According to the justices, seized documents outlined plans to kill Lula, Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, as well as to impose measures that would dismantle constitutional guarantees.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet stated that evidence shows a federal police officer infiltrated the president-elect’s security detail to support the group’s plans. Justice de Moraes, who oversees the broader coup investigation, said the conspiracy ultimately failed because the Army’s commander did not endorse it.

Members of Brazil’s political and judicial leadership have warned that the events represented one of the most serious threats to the country’s democratic order since the end of the 1964–1985 dictatorship. Justice Flávio Dino said Brazil had “almost fallen into a chasm of institutional darkness” due to the actions of those involved.

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