Brazil’s Supreme Court Publishes Minutes Confirming Unanimous Rejection of Bolsonaro Appeals, Starting Final Appeal Deadlines

Overview

• The Supreme Court’s First Panel published its minutes on November 17 recording a unanimous denial of Jair Bolsonaro’s and six allies’ first appeals, leaving intact Bolsonaro’s 27-year, three-month sentence in the coup-plot case.
• The full ruling (acórdão) is expected within days, after which defenses have five days for new embargos de declaração and roughly ten days remain for embargos infringentes, according to court practice reported by O Globo.
• Under prevailing jurisprudence, infringentes tied to convictions are only admitted when at least two panel votes favor acquittal, a threshold not met here, making reversal unlikely.
• Relator Alexandre de Moraes can decide new petitions individually and, if he deems them dilatory, certify finality and order custody; sentences begin only after trânsito em julgado, with outlets estimating a possible start between late November and early December in Papuda or Federal Police facilities in Brasília.
• Bolsonaro’s lawyers plan to file infringentes and are preparing medical reports to seek home confinement upon final conviction, while in a separate development the First Panel made Eduardo Bolsonaro a defendant for alleged coercion, and Mauro Cid is already serving his sentence in the open regime after not appealing.