The fourth day of Jair Bolsonaro’s Supreme Court trial brought a decisive turn. By Wednesday evening, four justices had voted to convict the former president and his seven allies for plotting to overturn the 2022 election, assuring a guilty verdict before the trial’s conclusion.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur of the case, opened the session with a lengthy vote to convict on all charges, including coup plotting, criminal association, and violent attack on democratic order.

He described the scheme as an “unprecedented assault” on Brazil’s democracy, warning that past cycles of impunity for coups must not be repeated. Moraes proposed severe sentences that could exceed 30 years in prison for Bolsonaro.