Factbox-Bolsonaro joins list of former Brazilian presidents with legal troubles

By Eduardo Simões

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will face trial on charges of allegedly conspiring to overthrow the government after he lost the 2022 presidential elections, a five-judge panel at the country's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.

The ruling added the far-right leader to a lengthy list of former Brazilian presidents who have faced legal problems that challenged their political power.

FERNANDO COLLOR DE MELLO

The first president to win the popular vote after the end of Brazil's last military dictatorship in 1985, Collor took office in 1990, only to find himself at the center of a corruption scandal only two years later.

The former president's brother, Pedro Collor de Mello, accused the then leader of installing an influence peddling network in the government that also involved the misappropriation of funds.

A wave of street demonstrations against the then president followed, pushing Congress to impeach Collor and bar him from elections for eight years. But, in 1994, the Supreme Court acquitted him, finding there was no evidence that he had committed any crimes. He later was elected senator.

Almost 30 years later, Collor was convicted of corruption and money laundering by Brazil's Supreme Court in a separate scandal involving a subsidiary of the state-owned oil company Petrobras.

LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA

Brazil's current president was the target of the country's biggest ever corruption scandal, a probe called Car Wash that started in 2014, four years after Lula had served his second term as president.

The investigation captured the nation's attention for years as it revealed several of Brazil's most powerful politicians and businesspeople were involved in a billion-dollar corruption scheme at the country's state-owned oil company Petrobras.

In 2018, in the run-up to presidential elections in which he was the leading candidate, Lula was convicted of corruption and money laundering in two criminal cases that accused him of taking bribes from construction companies. Bolsonaro won the election, while Lula served a 580-day prison sentence.

Lula's convictions were annulled in 2021 when the Supreme Court ruled that judge Sergio Moro, who oversaw Car Wash and later joined Bolsonaro's cabinet, was biased against the leftist leader. The ruling also found that the court in which Lula was tried didn't have jurisdiction over his case.

With his political rights restored, Lula ran for and won the 2022 election against Bolsonaro. He has always denied the accusations, claiming to be a victim of political persecution.

DILMA ROUSSEFF

The first Brazilian woman to be elected president was impeached in 2016, two years after starting her second term. She was accused of breaking budget laws, as Brazil faced a deep recession. She denied the accusations.

But, during an impeachment trial in 2016, senators decided not to bar her from elections. Two years later, she ran for a seat in the Senate for Minas Gerais, but lost.

MICHEL TEMER

Rousseff's vice-president took office in 2016, after she was impeached. A year later, a recording of a conversation between Temer and businessman Joesley Batista suggested the then-president had encouraged the businessman to pay a former Congressman to remain silent in a corruption probe.

Temer, who denied the accusation, was then charged with corruption, collusion and obstruction of justice. But Congress refused to remove him from the presidency. Temer was later the target of another corruption investigation, involving a nuclear power plant.

Temer, who again denied the accusations, spent six days in prison before being released. In 2022, he was acquitted of the charges of corruption and money laundering related to the case.

JAIR BOLSONARO

In addition to being charged with leading an attempted coup, Bolsonaro was also convicted by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in 2023, for abusing his power to discredit Brazil's voting system. The conviction barred him from elections until 2030.

He was also formally accused by the country's police for allegedly misappropriating jewelry he received as head of state and, separately, for tampering with his vaccination card.

Bolsonaro denies all accusations and claims to be a victim of political persecution by foes who want to prevent him from running for president again in 2026.