“The plenary of the STF, by a majority of votes”, decided to condemn “the defendant Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira to a sentence of 17 years”, stated the president of the court, minister Rosa Weber, at the conclusion of the first trial of Bolsonaro supporters who invaded and vandalized the Palácio do Planalto and the buildings of the National Congress and the STF, unhappy with the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro in the October elections.
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Subsequently, the Supreme Court sentenced Thiago de Assis Mathar to 14 years in prison for the same crimes as Aécio.
In both cases, the sentences that prevailed were the harshest proposed among the court's 11 ministers.
A resident of São Paulo, Aécio, aged 51, participated in the invasion of the National Congress and was convicted of crimes such as attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d'état, armed criminal association, qualified damage and deterioration of public property.
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He was also ordered to pay an individual fine and compensation for “collective moral and material damages” of 30 million reais along with the others convicted of the attacks.
January 8 “wasn’t really a Sunday in the park, it was a Sunday of devastation, the day of infamy”, lamented Minister Rosa Weber, accompanying the rapporteur, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who voted on Wednesday.
The invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Three Powers occurred just a week after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who won the elections by a narrow margin.
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“The objective was, through the use of violence, to besiege Brasília and spread the practice of criminal acts across the country, violating the rule of law,” said Cristiano Zanin, one of the ministers voting this Thursday.
In addition to invading and vandalizing the buildings, the protesters broke windows, chairs, tables, valuable works of art and historical furniture, such as a clock brought to Brazil by the Portuguese court in 1808.
Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who proposed a sentence of 17 years in prison, said that the perpetrators of the attacks wanted to “convince the Army to join this coup d’état” and “were sure they would succeed”.
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Moraes showed a video of Aécio inside the Senate, celebrating the invasion and encouraging it on social media.
Only two STF ministers dismissed the accusations of an attempted coup.
“The deposition of the government would depend on acts that were not within the reach of these people”, argued André Mendonça, one of the ministers who defended this position. However, he also voted to sentence the defendant to eight years in prison for the other crimes.
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Aécio's lawyers maintained that the defendant was not armed during the attacks and that he did not commit any violent act.
In the case of Thiago, 43 years old, Moraes recalled – and security cameras proved – that the defendant walked around the Presidency's office at Palácio do Planalto on the day of the destruction.
“He came here to stage a coup, to attack the powers that be, to overthrow the democratically elected government. But he went wrong and was arrested,” said the rapporteur.
Thiago's lawyer assured that his client wanted “a better country, he didn't want to come and make a mess”.
More than 200 trials
The Attorney General's Office (PGR) filed a total of 232 complaints against those allegedly responsible for the most serious crimes, including the first to be convicted. The trial of Moacir José dos Santos, aged 52, began this Thursday and that of Matheus Lima de Carvalho Lázaro, aged 24, will follow.
Bolsonaro, who was recently declared ineligible for eight years for disinformation about the electoral system, is being investigated for his alleged role in encouraging coup attacks.
The former president, who was in the United States at the time of the events, denies any responsibility.
Before January 8, thousands of his supporters, convinced that Bolsonaro had been the victim of electoral fraud, staged roadblocks and demonstrated in front of military barracks, calling for military intervention.
Members of the Federal District's police leadership were arrested last month, accused of omission and attempted coup d'état, after investigations revealed, according to the courts, ideological and purposeful alignment with the perpetrators of the attacks.
In addition to complaints about the most serious crimes, the PGR analyzes more than a thousand cases related to the attacks which, instead of a criminal case, will result in fines and social contributions, if an agreement is reached.
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