Five of Brazil’s 11 Supreme Court justices will decide in the next three weeks whether former President Jair Bolsonaro and 33 others charged by the country’s prosecutor-general with attempting a coup will stand trial.

The evidence paints a sinister portrait of the military-fascist cabal that controlled the Brazilian state under the Bolsonaro government.

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been charged in connection with an alleged coup plot to overturn the results of the 2022 election and keep his opponent from taking power, according to documents filed by prosecutors Tuesday evening.

Bolsonaro never formally conceded his narrow electoral defeat to Lula in October 2022, insinuating that instead the election had been stolen. In 2023, Brazil’s Supreme Electoral Court ruled that he had abused his power and banned him from running for political office again for the next eight years.

Brazil's attorney general has charged former President Jair Bolsonaro with attempting to lead a coup involving more than two dozen people following his 2022 election loss.

The charges against Bolsonaro stem from the former president’s attempt to overturn his 2022 presidential election loss against President Lula da Silva.