Military Court Expects Rank-Loss Trials for Bolsonaro and Generals After 2026 Election

Overview

• STM president Maria Elizabeth Rocha said the loss-of-rank cases will be opened in February and allocated to different relators and revisors by a public electronic lottery.
• The court will assess whether the convicted officers retain the dignity and fitness to remain in the officer corps rather than revisit the crimes already judged by the Supreme Court.
• Relators face no fixed deadlines and any of the 15 ministers can request a suspension for further review, making prolonged timelines likely and pushing final votes past 2026.
• The proceedings will cover Jair Bolsonaro, Almir Garnier, Walter Braga Netto, Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, all convicted by the Supreme Court in the coup plot case.
• Five of the 15 STM ministers were appointed by Bolsonaro, raising expectations of tight votes, and the court’s leader also backed a code of conduct for superior-court justices now under study by STF President Edson Fachin.