A man who stormed government buildings with a mob that claimed a presidential election was rigged received a stiff prison sentence Monday—and it wasn't in Washington, DC. Aecio Pereira, 51, was sentenced to 17 years for his role in the Jan. 8, 2023 riot in Brazil's capital, the BBC reports. In the attack, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brazil's Congress, the country's Supreme Court building, and the presidential palace. Almost 1,500 people were arrested.
Pereira was the first riot defendant to go on trial in the refurbished Supreme Court building, which was trashed in the attack, the Guardian reports. Eight of the 11 justices found him guilty on five charges: criminal association; staging a coup; violent attack on the rule of law; qualified damage; and destruction of public assets, per the AP. Two justices appointed by Bolsonaro declined to find him guilty on all five counts and sought a lighter sentence.
During the riot, Pereira was filmed inside Brazil's Senate building calling for a military coup. He claimed during his trial that he thought he had been taking part in a peaceful protest. After he narrowly lost the election to leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last October, Bolsonaro claimed, without evidence, that there had been fraud. The Supreme Court plans to hear 232 cases on the most serious charges connected to the riots, per the BBC. Around 1,000 other people are being investigated on lesser charges. (More Brazil stories.)
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