A panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court has convicted Eduardo Bolsonaro of lobbying the United States to intervene in the trial of his father, former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.
On Tuesday, three of the panel’s four judges voted in favor of conviction, and the remaining judge has not yet voted.
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They determined that Eduardo Bolsonaro’s actions amounted to coercion of Brazil’s judicial system and sentenced him to four years and two months in prison.
“This was not just an expression of an opinion or a political position, but an act that clearly threatened the Brazilian authorities and the Brazilian people themselves,” Judge Cristiano Zanin said, calling Bolsonaro’s actions “illegal and criminal.”
The conviction is the latest legal setback for the Bolsonaro family, which remains a dominant force on Brazil’s political right.
Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for trying to stay in power after losing the 2022 presidential election.
Prosecutors described his actions as an attempted coup. Bolsonaro and his family have portrayed the trial as a political witch hunt.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s third son and a member of Brazil’s Congress, has been active in defending his father.
In March 2025, he vowed to move to the United States full-time to “focus 100 percent” of his energies on “one cause”: freeing his father.
Prosecutors accused him of courting U.S. President Donald Trump and using foreign influence to wage an illegal campaign to pressure Brazilian officials to drop the case against Jair Bolsonaro.
Mr. Bolsonaro’s ally Mr. Trump, who similarly sought to remain in office despite his defeat in the 2020 election, accused Brazilian officials of persecuting right-wing voices like Mr. Bolsonaro.
In July 2025, President Trump released a letter announcing a 50% tariff on certain Brazilian products, specifically citing the Jair Bolsonaro trial as the reason.
“This trial should not have taken place,” President Trump wrote at the time. “This is a witch hunt and it must end immediately.”
President Trump also issued an executive order sanctioning Alexandre de Moraes, one of the Brazilian Supreme Court justices involved in the Bolsonaro case, for his activities to “target political opponents” and “suppress dissent.”
He called de Moraes a “threat” to the United States, and his administration later expanded sanctions to include the judge’s family and other Brazilian judicial officials.
Brazil’s current president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, condemned these actions as an attempt to interfere in Brazil’s internal affairs.
As relations with Mr. Lula became more friendly, the Trump administration eased tariffs on Brazil. In December, sanctions against Mr. de Moraes and his family were also lifted.
Meanwhile, Lula visited the White House in May and praised the talks with his American counterpart as productive.
However, it remains unclear what role President Trump will play in Brazil’s next presidential election.
The left-wing Lula is campaigning for a fourth term and is likely to face his toughest competition from Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, Jair Bolsonaro’s eldest son.
A CNT/MDA poll released on Tuesday predicts Lula will receive 49.3% of the vote in the runoff, compared to 40.2% for the senator.
Flavio Bolsonaro has faced his own legal troubles in recent months, with police launching an investigation into whether he defamed Lula in April. His relationship with a disgraced banker has also brought increased media scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Jair Bolsonaro faced questions this week about the presence of firearms in his home in Brasilia, where he is completing a three-month sentence on medical grounds.
Judge de Moraes similarly asked the elder Bolsonaro’s lawyers to explain the presence of weapons police found during a routine check on Monday.
Mr Bolsonaro’s security guard initially claimed the 9mm Glock pistol belonged to him, but it was later determined that it belonged to him.
De Moraes gave Bolsonaro’s lawyers 24 hours to explain why “a convicted man kept a firearm in his home.”
