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Bolsonaro judge criticizes trial, warns of 'political' verdict / Photo: © AFP
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Bolsonaro judge criticizes trial, warns of 'political' verdict
The third of five Brazilian judges deciding the fate of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday sharply criticized the trial, arguing that the Supreme Court should not issue a "political" verdict despite two judges already backing a conviction.
Bolsonaro faces up to 43 years in prison if convicted of trying to overturn his October 2022 election defeat in a seismic trial that has deeply divided Brazil and sparked a furious response from US President Donald Trump.
A simple majority of three judges is needed to convict the 70-year-old former army captain, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022.
The five judges vote one by one in a public session, prefacing their vote with lengthy remarks. The voting is expected to continue until Friday.
Judge Luiz Fux said in court on Wednesday it was "not the Supreme Court's place to conduct a political trial."
He argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to try the highly polarizing case, which Trump has labelled a "witch hunt."
Fux also echoed criticism from the defense which said it had had too little time to examine evidence submitted by the prosecution.
Bolsonaro is accused of leading a "criminal organization" that conspired to overthrow President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after his narrow victory over Bolsonaro in October 2022.
Prosecutors say the plot failed only because of a lack of support from the military top brass.
The 70-year-old chief defendant denies the charges and claims he is the victim of political persecution.
He is being tried alongside seven others, including former ministers and generals.
- Push for amnesty -
Fux struck a very different tone to the presiding judge, Alexandre de Moraes, who argued Tuesday that "Brazil nearly returned to dictatorship" in 2022, due to Bolsonaro's actions.
After Moraes, judge Flavio Dino -- a former justice minister under Lula -- also voted to convict him on all charges.
The judges can change their vote until all five have voted but are considered unlikely to do so.
Only when the verdict is final will sentencing deliberations begin in a case that has gripped the nation and is being closely watched around the world.
For many in Brazil and beyond, the trial is a test of the strength of the country's democracy 40 years after the end of a military dictatorship.
For others, it is a political show trial.
Trump has taken the latter view.
His administration has slapped a 50-percent tariff on many imports from Brazil as punishment for putting the man dubbed "the Trump of the Tropics" during his 2019 election campaign in the dock.
A guilty verdict could scupper Bolsonaro's hopes of making a comeback to the country's top job.
Fearing his conviction is imminent, allies are pushing Congress to pass an amnesty law to save him from prison.
Bolsonaro has been following this week's hearings from his residence in Brasilia where he has been under house arrest since last month.
Lawyers have said he is in ill health, suffering the effects of being stabbed in the abdomen at a campaign rally in 2018.
D.Cieslak--GL
