Brasilia.- The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Brazil will try former deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and accused of obstructing the trial against his father for a coup attempt, starting on June 16, the court reported this Wednesday.
The president of the First Chamber, Justice Flávio Dino, scheduled the analysis of the criminal action for two weeks from now, after the case rapporteur, Alexandre de Moraes, released the case for consideration by his three other chamber colleagues.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, who claims to have been living in “exile” in the United States since the beginning of 2025 after declaring himself a victim of “political persecution,” is facing charges for the crime of “coercion in the course of a proceeding,” which is punishable in Brazil by one to four years in prison.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office complaint, the former president’s son met with representatives of Donald Trump’s government in order to promote sanctions against his country, in an attempt to obstruct the trial that the ultra-leader was facing for an attempted coup d’état.
Based on those maneuvers, the Trump Administration applied political and financial sanctions to Supreme Court judges and Brazilian executive officials, and decreed tariffs of up to 50% on a large portion of the South American country’s products.
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That set of measures, which were reversed months later, came in the midst of the final phases of the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, who was finally sentenced on September 11 to 27 years in prison for “leading” a coup plot after losing the 2022 elections to the current leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Tensions between Brazil and the United States
The Brazilian Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Eduardo Bolsonaro encouraged the actions of the US government to try to prevent the Supreme Court from convicting his father.
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In their opinion, it is proven that the former deputy «deliberately used serious threats against the authorities responsible» for the coup trial against his father, some of which «were carried out in order to favor the interest» of his parent, the Public Prosecutor’s Office noted.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lost his seat as a deputy after moving to the U.S. and being absent from Lower House sessions for a long period without justification, is represented in the proceedings by a public defender since he did not appoint a lawyer, even though he was notified of the case even through a public edict.
The scheduling of the trial date comes amidst a new diplomatic crisis between Brazil and the United States, after the North American power’s trade office proposed new tariffs against the South American nation for alleged “unfair” trade practices and the use of slave labor.
