Brazil’s Supreme Court Convicts Eduardo Bolsonaro for Coercion

Brazil’s Supreme Court has convicted former lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro for coercion in relation to the trial that sentenced his father, ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, to 27 years in prison for a coup attempt. The court has sentenced Eduardo Bolsonaro to four years and two months in prison. All five justices agreed that he illegally interfered by lobbying the U.S. government to pressure Brazilian officials to halt the trial.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, also involved in the ex-president’s coup attempt case, criticized Eduardo Bolsonaro’s actions, stating that a federal lawmaker’s role is not to lobby against his own country overseas. Both de Moraes and his wife were sanctioned by the U.S. government in July last year.

Eduardo Bolsonaro’s lawyers challenged the verdict, arguing that insufficient evidence existed for a conviction. Since February 2025, Eduardo Bolsonaro has been living in Texas. In a related move, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazil last year to protest Jair Bolsonaro’s prosecution for attempting to overturn his electoral defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022.

Relations between President Trump and Lula seemed to improve in early May during Lula’s visit to the White House. However, in June, the U.S. government proposed 25% tariffs on Brazilian imports, citing unreasonable trade practices by the world’s tenth-largest economy. During his visit to Washington in May, Lula presented Trump with documents indicating that the U.S. has a trade surplus with Brazil.

Eduardo Bolsonaro has not commented on the Supreme Court’s decision. He is actively campaigning for his brother, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who is planning to challenge Lula in the upcoming October elections. Flávio Bolsonaro’s candidacy has recently been marred by a scandal involving a payment to a disgraced banker. Eduardo and Flávio Bolsonaro recently visited U.S. officials in Washington, including President Trump.