Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro appeals his 27-year prison sentence
Rio de Janeiro (AP): Lawyers for Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro filed an appeal to reduce his prison sentence for attempting a coup after his 2022 electoral defeat.
Judges in September convicted Bolsonaro of trying to overthrow democracy and sentenced him to 27 years and three months in jail. He has been under house arrest since August.
In an 85-page document sent to the Supreme Court on Monday and shared with The Associated Press on Tuesday, lawyers said that the conviction and sentence entailed “profound injustices.”
Lawyers argued there were “ambiguities, omissions, contradictions and obscurities” in the court's decision.
Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing. He was convicted of attempting a coup after losing the 2022 race to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a plot that prosecutors alleged included plans to kill Lula.
He was found guilty on other charges including participating in an armed criminal organisation and attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.
In their appeal, lawyers argued Bolsonaro should not be convicted of both organising a coup and attempting to violently abolish democracy, on the grounds that the two charges overlap and therefore cumulative penalties are unjust.
They also cited Justice Luiz Fux, who was the only dissenting vote on the five justice panel that convicted Bolsonaro, and argued that even if Bolsonaro had attempted a coup, he “deliberately interrupted the course of events” and did not go through with it.
Lawyers filed motions of clarification, which seek to correct a flaw in the reasoning of a decision rather than change it.
João Pedro Padua, a law professor at the Fluminense Federal University, said that this kind of appeal is very unlikely to reduce Bolsonaro's sentence.
To file an appeal that could substantially modify the decision, the Supreme Court usually requires at least two dissenting votes.
There is no limit on how many motions for clarification can be filed, but the Supreme Court may deem successive filings an attempt to delay the final judgment.
Such a strategy is “risky” for Bolsonaro's lawyers, as they “could give the Supreme Court an excuse to declare the judgment final right away,” Padua said.
Seven other close aides were convicted alongside Bolsonaro, and all of them apart from Mauro Cid, who signed a plea deal, have filed appeals, the Supreme Court said in a statement on Tuesday.
Justices will decide on the appeals between November 7 and November 14, the court added.
Bolsonaro will only start serving time once appeals are exhausted.
The trial made global headlines. US President Donald Trump ordered a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian imported goods and cited in part Bolsonaro's case, which he called a “witch hunt.”
That triggered a sharp deterioration in US-Brazil relations, which experts described as the lowest point in their more than 200-year history.
Relations have improved. Lula and Trump spoke on the phone then met last weekend in Malaysia at the ASEAN summit.
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Siddaramaiah in 'helpless situation', under some 'compulsion', claims Cong MLA Rajanna
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Bengaluru (PTI): Amid claims that Siddaramaiah's confidants are being targeted within the ruling Congress in Karnataka, following recent actions against some party leaders, senior MLA K N Rajanna on Friday alleged that the chief minister is "helpless" and under some "compulsion" as he is not standing up to defend his people.
The comments from the former minister, who is considered close to Siddaramaiah, came after Congress took action against some of its minority community leaders--considered close to the CM--following allegations of an internal conspiracy against the party candidate in the Davanagere South bypoll held on April 9.
Rajanna himself was sacked from the Ministry last August on the instructions of the party high command, following his alleged comments criticising top party leader Rahul Gandhi's "vote theft" charge.
"There will be vested interests in the party who will try to conspire against those who have been loyal to the party and want the party to grow for the welfare of the people. Nothing can be done about it. What we expect from our chief minister is that when such a situation arises, he should stand strong, but he is not standing and that is a sad thing," Rajanna said in response to a question whether Siddaramaiah's followers were being targeted in Congress.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "... I don't know what his thinking is. But we did not expect such a helpless situation from Siddaramaiah."
When asked who had made Siddaramaiah helpless, the former minister said, "I won't say who, you understand it yourself."
"People are saying that those close to Siddaramaiah are being targeted...I don't know what compulsions Siddaramaiah has. If he tells, we can know, but he won't say. I don't know under what compulsion he is following this neutrality," he said, adding that the CM is helpless and a person becomes "helpless" when his/her voice shrinks.
The Congress recently suspended MLC K Abdul Jabbar from the party's primary membership and relieved another MLC Naseer Ahmed from the post of chief minister's political secretary. This action came after a group of Muslim leaders accused members of their own party of "conspiracy" to defeat the official candidate in Davanagere South.
Following the action against Jabbar and Naseer Ahmed, speculation is that Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan may also face action during the next cabinet rejig, as these three wanted a Muslim to get the bypoll ticket in Davanagere South, which the party gave to the late MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa's grandson Samarth Mallikarjun. They also did not actively participate in campaigning.
Citing a Kannada saying that there is no punishment for the mistakes committed by the King, Rajanna, in what seemed to be a veiled dig at Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, asked, "Does sharing a stage with a person (referring to Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev) who said, 'Who is Rahul Gandhi? I don't know,' not amount to indiscipline?"
Referring to AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge's statement on whether poverty could be ended by taking a dip in the Ganga at Prayagraj, he said, "...but this person (again referring to Shivakumar) goes there and compliments UP CM Yogi Adityanath for arrangements made for the Kumbh Mela. He also goes to Ambani family marriage, while Rahul Gandhi did not even accept the invitation."
"I'm not saying that action should be taken against this person too, but the party will have to observe these things also," he added.
Rajanna further pointed out that no action was taken when veteran Congress leader and late MLA from Davanagere South Shamanur Shivashankarappa made a speech seeking votes for BJP candidate B Y Raghavandra during Shivamogga Lok Sabha polls, and asked if this did not amount to indiscipline.
"The same people were at the helm then (referring to Shivakumar as KPCC chief), even a verbal warning was not given to him (Shivashankarappa)," he said, adding that, similarly no action was taken when Samarth Shamanur filed his nomination in Davanagere South before the party announced its candidate for Davanagere South-- that was also an act of indiscipline.
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