Brasilia – Public opinion in Brazil is awaiting the repercussions of the ruling against former President Jair Bolsonaro on both the right, Bolsonaro’s supporters, and the current government, after a trial that sparked widespread controversy within the country’s political and legal circles.
Bolsonaro began serving a 27-year prison sentence after the Supreme Court found him guilty of planning a coup on January 8, 2023. Judge Alexandre de Moraes issued a decision to begin serving the sentence at the Federal Police Complex in Brasilia, where he has been in detention since last Saturday.
The decision comes after a document published by the Supreme Court yesterday showed that Bolsonaro’s conviction has become final, and no new appeal can be filed.
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has exhausted all possible avenues of appeal against his 27-year prison sentence on charges of attempted coup, according to a document published by the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/PcL4tkaOkl
– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) November 25, 2025
Legal path
In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, Secretary General of the United Socialist Workers Party in Brazil, Jose Maria de Almeida, said, “The work of the Federal Supreme Court and the Federal Police in this case has proven what is clear: the serious crime committed by Bolsonaro and his aides against the Federal Constitution, and the decision was taken to put them in prison.”
He added, “With emphasis that this does not necessarily mean supporting the work of these institutions, which often operate according to political standards that serve the interests of the dominant class, as was shown in their bias in several other cases, or in the Supreme Court’s approval of all policies that violate the rights of workers and the poor and marginalized classes currently taking place in the country.”
Researcher and legal expert Sergio Augusto Pinto Oliveira told Al Jazeera Net that based on the large amount of evidence, whether through the confiscation of mobile phones, documents, live broadcasts, testimonies, etc., the prosecution was able to file the criminal case registered No. 2668 before the Federal Supreme Court.
He explained that the lawsuit relates to an armed criminal organization that attacks the democratic system and the rule of law, using the state structure in a consistent and continuous manner with the aim of illegally remaining in power regardless of the results of the elections, and then preventing the installation of the legitimately elected government or its overthrow by declaring a state of emergency.
According to Oliveira, the federal police played their role, and the court issued its decisions within the scope of its powers and based on Brazilian laws, while respecting the right to defense and presenting evidence.
After the guilty verdict was issued, the defendants – including Bolsonaro – filed internal appeals. These appeals were rejected, and now the ruling has been confirmed (the decision has acquired finality), allowing the immediate implementation of sanctions against the main group participating in the coup attempt, and the implementation of the ruling has already begun.
Political repercussions
For her part, lawyer and member of Amnesty Political, Nicia Bosco, told Al Jazeera Net, “So far the impact on Bolsonaro’s supporters has been very limited, as their responses have not gone beyond simple activities and movements that are not worth mentioning. They do not seem to be able to organize a large mobilization on their own. The right is seeking to separate from it, but while being careful not to lose the support of the Bolsonarians.”
Bosco believes that the more loyal core tends to view the trial as political persecution, and may try to respond in one way or another.
However, she adds, the attempt to break the electronic bracelet that the federal police placed on Bolsonaro’s ankle to facilitate the process of tracking him, the escape of some of his supporters, his behavior before the federal police, and the defense lawyer’s attempt to portray him as a sick person were rejected by a wide segment of the people and even by some of his supporters.
The lawyer continues, “Bolsonaro always presented himself as a strong and solid man, and this accelerates the erosion of his personal image and increases the isolation of his political position.”
According to de Almeida, the nature of Bolsonaria, as well as the nature of the Bolsonaro family, represents an additional obstacle to the reorganization and unification of this movement to confront the current president, Lula da Silva, in the upcoming elections.
He continued, “But we still have a long time to go until next year, and we must see how things will develop. The Bolsonaro movement still has important electoral weight. If the parties and the center-right are able to reach an agreement on one candidate with the support of the Bolsonaro family, that candidate will be very strong in the next electoral race.”
In de Almeida’s opinion, the presence of US President Donald Trump in power in the United States, and his “aggressive policies in supporting extreme right-wing movements around the world,” cannot be ruled out of his influence on the reality of Latin America. “However, this effect must be viewed with some caution, especially in the case of Brazil. The attempt made by Trump to promote and support Bolsonaro was like a bullet that bounced back on him, as a result of a combination of factors, which demonstrates the limits of these interventions.”
US President Donald #Trump He is surprised by the news of the arrest of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro#video pic.twitter.com/OJDznn944C
– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) November 23, 2025
Economic repercussions
According to lawyer Bosco, the trial of Bolsonaro and his associates reinforces the impression that institutions are facing anti-democratic attacks in 2022 and 2023, which reduces the space for coup rhetoric. It also raises a broad public debate that directly affects society, especially in the most polarized circles, without changing the general political landscape.
Economically, the impact is indirect, according to her, given that the conviction gives the government a greater sense of institutional stability, which is welcomed by the markets. On the other hand, the right remains politically strong with changes in leadership, which means that the economic arena will remain a subject of competition between different projects. In the medium term, political conflicts will continue, especially with the reorganization of the right, affecting the country’s economic agenda.
For his part, legal expert Oliveira believes that the ruling against the central group in the coup plot was expected by the financial markets, so it did not have direct effects on market movement.
It is likely – he continues – that the federal government, in order to maintain its internal balance in the face of the extreme right, will work to accelerate administrative reform that reduces the rights of public employees, and maintain the 2017 labor law reform, which diminished the rights of the working class. That is, it will practically act as an arm to serve major economic interests.
As for de Almeida, he believes that “the extreme right wanted to carry out the coup to remain in power, and to deepen the state of barbarism into which the capitalist system has thrown workers and the poor classes, not only in our country, but in the whole world. But the coup attempt was defeated. It is not this right that is leading economic policy in our country today, but rather the government led by the Workers’ Party, led by Lula da Silva.”
He concluded, “This policy implemented by the party, which is neoliberal, is what maintained the exploitation of workers and the poor classes, and even deepened it as the crisis of the capitalist system worsened, which caused increasing damage to the country’s interests.”