Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup .

The Supreme Court of Brazil has sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison for plotting a military coup, hours after a five-judge panel found him guilty.

The court ruled that Bolsonaro led a conspiracy to stay in power after losing the 2022 election to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Four of the five judges convicted him and one voted for his acquittal. Bolsonaro's lawyers called the sentence "excessive and unreasonable" and said they would "properly appeal" it.

Bolsonaro, who has been under house arrest for fear of fleeing before trial, did not appear in court in person for this final stage of the trial.

However, he has previously alleged that the case was brought to prevent him from running in the 2026 election. However, he was previously disqualified from holding public office in another case. He has also called it a "witch hunt" or a campaign organized for his ideology.

His statement has also been echoed by US President Donald Trump.

Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods in retaliation for Bolsonaro's trial.

Trump called the ruling "very surprising" and compared it to his own experience, saying, "They tried to do the same to me. But they were not successful in any way."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Brazil's Supreme Court "unfairly sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to prison." He also threatened to "respond to this witch hunt."

In a swift response, Brazil's foreign ministry said, "The aggressive threats made today by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio against Brazilian authorities, ignoring the evidence and the strong data on record, cannot intimidate our democracy."

Former President Bolsonaro, 70, will now spend virtually the rest of his life in prison.

His lawyers are likely to ask for a reduced sentence and for him to be placed under house arrest instead of being sent to prison.

They have already announced they will appeal the sentence. However, legal experts say that this will be difficult, as at least two of the five judges usually vote for an acquittal, which would make it difficult to appeal.

Bolsonaro was found guilty on five charges, all of which relate to his attempt to cling to power after his defeat in the 2022 election.

But the prosecution says he began a long-standing conspiracy to stay in power by proposing a coup to top military officials and spreading unfounded doubts about the voting process.

They also said that Bolsonaro was aware of a plot to assassinate Lula and his vice-presidential candidate, as well as a Supreme Court judge.

The judges ruled that he led the conspiracy. Seven other accomplices were also convicted in the case, including senior military officers, two former defense ministers, a former intelligence chief and a former security minister.

Although the coup failed due to insufficient military support, Bolsonaro supporters attacked government buildings on January 8, 2023.

The situation was quickly brought under control and more than 1,500 people were arrested.

According to Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the trial, Brazil was on the verge of returning to dictatorship.

"We are slowly forgetting that Brazil was returning to almost 20 years of military rule because a criminal organization disguised as a political party does not know how to accept defeat in an election," he said before casting his vote.

Brazil's military history and recent past also played a role in the ruling by Judge Carmen Lucia on Thursday.

She compared the coup attempt to a "virus" that, if left unchecked, would destroy the society it entered.

The only dissenting judge on the five-member panel, Justice Luiz Fox, was the only one to dissent. In an 11-hour speech on Wednesday, she called the charges baseless and voted to acquit Bolsonaro.

But on Thursday, Judge Carmen Lucia, the only woman on the panel, said Brazil's democratic order was at serious risk. "No nation is completely immune to dictatorship," she warned.