Trial begins over January 8 riots in Brazil Supreme Court

Nine months after former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro's supporters stormedthe Supreme Court of Brazil, the National Congress of Brazil and the Planalto Presidential Palace after his loss in the election, the country's apex court has opened the first trials.

On Wednesday (September 13), the first four accused went on trial before the Supreme Court in the capital city of Brasilia. The SC building was ransacked on January 8 bythousands of Bolsonaro supporters who allegedly attempted to overturn the election -drawingeerie similarities to the January 6 insurrection attempt by former US president Donald Trumpsupporters in 2021 at the US Capitol Hill.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes presiding over the case in his opening remarks said theinsurrectionists had rampaged through the heart of Brazilian democracy, “showing utter contempt for the republic and imbued with the audacity of ignorance”.

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“But let me be clear: they did not destroy the spirit of democracy. The enemies of freedom should know that, in the hallowed ground of this court, the permanently cultivated democratic system remains unshaken," added the judge.

Prosecutor Carlos Frederico Santos maintained a similar defiant note as he opened the case against51-year-old Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, accused of being part of an “armed and anti-democratic mob”.

"We have turned the page on the days of coups. Those who embrace the spurious idea that power can be won through violence and in violation of constitutional norms must respond for the resulting crimes,"Santos told the court, adding that the case was a "milestone" for the count which returned todemocracy in the 1980s.

“It is important to note that Brazil long ago ceased to be a banana republic. We have turned the page on coups d’état in our history.”

WATCH | Supporters of Brazil's Bolsonaro storm Presidential palace

Attempted coup by Bolsonaro supporters

Over 2,000 rioters were arrested in the aftermath of what Bolsonaro'sleftwing successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called an attempted coup d’état.The rioters, also referred to as "Bolsonaristas" looted offices, destroyed public property, desecrated precious words of art and left ugly graffiti messages calling for a military coup to overthrow the Lula administration.

Bolsonaro's unruly far-right supporters followed theline taken by their leader who believed that the presidential election was rigged against him as Lula won by a razor-thin margin.

(With inputs from agencies)

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