Justice Luiz Fux insists the court has no jurisdiction to decide if the former president is guilty of plotting a coup.
Published On 10 Sep 2025
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux has called for the annulment of the case against former President Jair Bolsonaro due to what he called an “absolute lack of jurisdiction” for the five-judge panel hearing the case.
His vote on Wednesday is the third of five to be cast this week, as judges deliberate on the charges facing the former president, who stands accused of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election.
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The high court still seems likely to convict Bolsonaro: Two judges have already voted to convict, and the remaining two were appointed by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro.
The former president stands accused of taking part in an armed criminal organisation, attempting to violently abolish democracy, organising a coup, and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.
His lawyers have maintained his innocence on all counts.
Fux argued on Wednesday in the trial’s final deliberations that the case should have been heard by lower courts because Bolsonaro had left office.
“I vote … that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to judge this case because the defendants had already lost their [political] positions,” Fux said.
Once involved, he added, the full Supreme Court should have handled the trial rather than the five-judge panel, because it involves crimes committed while Bolsonaro was president.
Fux also said the defence was not given enough time to prepare their case, noting that the investigation generated around 70 terabytes of documents, which he called a “tsunami of data” and “document dumping”.
“I’m not an expert in this area, but the volume reached 70 terabytes — I couldn’t believe it, because that’s billions of pages. Yet it was only on April 30, 2025, that a decision was issued granting access to the media and materials seized during the investigative phase,” he said.
If found guilty, the far-right, 70-year-old Bolsonaro faces up to 43 years in prison.
Seven co-defendants, including ex-ministers and army generals, face similar sentences.
Yesterday, when Justice Alexandre de Moraes cast his vote in favour of conviction, he noted that there was excessive evidence of plans to assassinate current President Lula, citing a document found at government headquarters.
The case has drawn widespread attention in Brazil, where tens of thousands of Bolsonaro supporters took to the streets on Sunday ahead of the verdict.
Such protests have raised concerns about the implications of a possible guilty verdict.
After Bolsonaro lost the election, his supporters stormed key government buildings on January 8, 2023, seeking to prevent Lula from taking office.
The attack caused millions of dollars in damage, and dozens of law enforcement officers and protesters were injured.
Bolsonaro’s supporters have called on United States President Donald Trump – a close ally of the Brazilian former leader – to intervene in the case.
Trump has denounced the trial as a “witch hunt” and levied sanctions against Moraes, as well as steep tariffs on Brazilian goods.
