Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro led a rally Sunday in support of an amnesty law that could free him from criminal charges and eliminate the prison sentences of dozens of supporters who stormed the nation’s congress two years ago to protest the election of his successor, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro has been charged by Brazilian prosecutors of trying to organize a coup following his defeat to Lula in the October 2022 election, with investigators saying he plotted with 33 others to poison Lula and kill a supreme court judge.
In March, a panel of supreme court judges accepted the charges and launched a trial against Bolsonaro, where the former president will face five counts that include attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, and threatening the state’s assets and heritage sites.
On Sunday, Bolsonaro dismissed the charges, which he claims are part of a political persecution against him.
Speaking to thousands of supporters who gathered in one of Sao Paulo’s main avenues wearing yellow Brazil soccer jerseys, Bolsonaro said he had faith in the Brazilian people and hoped that Congress would approve an amnesty law drafted by his allies.
“We have a way out of this,” Bolsonaro said.
Bolsonaro, a conservative who has long expressed his admiration for President Donald Trump, said that Brazilian courts were trying to “hunt him” with “lawfare” just like courts in France recently went after far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
The former president was barred from running for office until 2030 by Brazil’s electoral court, for making unfounded claims about the nation’s electoral system, that suggested voting machines had been rigged.
Bolsonaro has said he will challenge that ruling and is planning to run for office in the 2026 presidential election.
“To hold elections in 2026 without Jair Bolsonaro, is to negate democracy” Bolsonaro said during Sunday’s rally.
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