BRASILIA (Reuters) - Two Brazilian Supreme Court justices on Tuesday voted to convict former President Jair Bolsonaro of leading a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2022 election, as they cast the first votes in the final phase of the ex-president's trial.
The five-judge panel is now one vote away from a majority convicting Bolsonaro of orchestrating an attempted coup to remain in power after his 2022 electoral defeat to leftist PresidentLuiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The charges stem from a federal police investigation that uncovered the alleged plot, including plans to poison Lula and his running mate.
Bolsonaro stands accused of taking part in an armed criminal organization, attempting to violently abolish democracy, organizing a coup, and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.
His lawyers have maintained his innocence on all counts.
The charges are tied to Bolsonaro's alleged incitement of riots in January 2023, when thousands of his supporters stormed and ransacked the Congress, presidential palace, and Supreme Court in Brasilia, the capital.
The first member of the high court to cast his vote on the case was Justice Alexandre de Moraes, an alleged assassination target in the coup plot, who oversaw the 2022 elections and now presides over the coup-related trials.
He voted to convict Bolsonaro of all the crimes for which he had been charged, calling the former president the "leader of the criminal organization."
The role of Moraes in the case has made him atarget of Bolsonaro's allies, including U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration, which imposed sanctionson the judge and levied 50% tariffs on many Brazilian imports to the U.S. for what Trump called a "witch hunt" against the former Brazilian president.
Justice Flavio Dino, Lula's former justice minister, also voted on Tuesday to convict Bolsonaro on all counts.
Next up on Wednesday morning is Justice Luiz Fux, followed by Justice Carmen Lucia - a Lula appointee - and Justice Cristiano Zanin, who presides over the panel and is a former attorney for Lula. Two Supreme Court justices appointed by Bolsonaro are not on the panel.
If convicted, Bolsonarofaces a maximum potential sentence of 40 years.
Even if convicted, Bolsonaro could avoid his full sentence. Already barred from running for office until 2030, his supporters hope a future president might grant him a pardon.
Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, who served in Bolsonaro's cabinet, pushed Congress last week to grant the ex-president amnesty, a move many saw as positioning the governor as an heir to Bolsonaro's coalition in next year's election.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Luciana Magalhaes; Writing by Isabel Teles and Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Brad Haynes, Paul Simao and Rosalba O'Brien)
