What does it mean when a democracy puts a former president on trial for plotting a coup?
In Brazil, that isn’t a theoretical question, as the Supreme Court is in the final stages of deciding whether Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s far-right former leader, tried to overturn his 2022 defeat — and whether he did so with the backing of top-ranked military officials.
At the center of the case are the riots that occurred on January 8, 2023. They looked eerily like January 6 in the United States — but worse: crowds stormed not only Congress, but also the presidential palace and the Supreme Court itself.
But prosecutors say those riots were just the visible edge of something larger — a vast conspiracy to push the military into breaking democracy.
After months of evidence-gathering, arguments and testimonies, the justices are expected to deliver their ruling by September 12, in what is arguably the most consequential trial in Brazil’s recent history.
Our guest is Davi Tangerino. He’s a criminal lawyer and a professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Tangerino also served on Brazil’s National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy, and helped lead the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences.
In this conversation, he unpacks:
The defense’s playbook
The case’s strengths and flaws
Potential punishments and arrest conditions
Consequences for political and military careers
Congressional pressures against the Supreme Court
