Latin America

Source: The Guardian

Far-right fanatic given 17 years for role in Brazil coup attempt

Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, 51, is first rioter to be tried for January assault on Latin America’s largest democracy

Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
Thu 14 Sep 2023 18.59 BST
First published on Thu 14 Sep 2023 18.58 BST

Brazil’s supreme court has sentenced a far-right fanatic to 17 years in prison for his role in the failed attempt to topple the country’s leftwing government on 8 January this year.

Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, 51, a sanitation worker from São Paulo, was the first rioter to face trial for January’s dramatic assault on Latin America’s largest democracy.

Hundreds more will find themselves in the dock in the coming months to face charges over what the supreme court’s president, Rosa Weber, called Brazil’s “day of disgrace”.

On Thursday a majority of the court’s 11 members ruled that Pereira, a hardcore supporter of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, deliberately sought to overthrow Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, when he and thousands of fellow radicals ran riot in Brasília eight days after Lula took power.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/14/far-right-fanatic-sentenced-17-years-coup-attempt-brazil

Alternate non-walled link: https://archive.li/H3Sqc