Brazil's top prosecutor says Bolsonaro tried to overthrow democracy, as trial's final phase opens

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s prosecutor-general argued Tuesday that former President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies plotted to overthrow democracy through a series of interconnected events aimed at keeping him in power illegally, as the ex-leader's coup trial entered the verdict phase.

The former president is accused of conspiring to stage a coup to stay in power despite losing the 2022 presidential election to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing, and has repeatedly said the trial is a politically motivated attack on spurious charges.

Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet pointed to evidence that, after the October 2022 vote, Bolsonaro summoned top Cabinet and military officials to discuss issuing an emergency decree to halt the election result by suspending powers of the electoral court and investigating suspicions of voting fraud.

“It doesn’t take extraordinary intellectual effort to recognize that when the president of the republic and then the defense minister summon the military leadership to present a document formalizing a coup d’état, the criminal process is already underway,” Gonet said.

Gonet argued that the “shocking and grim picture” outlined in the indictment cannot be understood as a “narrative of isolated facts.” He said the plan to keep Bolsonaro in power also involved several other elements, including previous efforts to sow doubt in Brazil's electronic voting system and a riot by Bolsonaro supporters on Jan. 8, 2023, after Lula was inaugurated.

Prosecutors also have alleged that the plot included a plan to kill Lula and one of the Supreme Court justices.

“Failing to criminally repress attempts of this nature, as shown by accounts both here and abroad, strengthens authoritarian impulses. This, therefore, fuels fundamentalism and puts a civilized way of life at risk,” Gonet said.

Bolsonaro's defense has argued that the prosecution's case is undermined by the fact that the emergency decree was never issued and that the ex-leader allowed the transition to Lula to go forward.

Bolsonaro is under house arrest and was not present at the court on Tuesday. His lawyer Celso Vilardi told journalists that was because of Bolsonaro’s ill health.

“I'm following (the trial),” Bolsonaro said in video footage shared on social media, where he appears pacing up and down at his property in Brasilia.

The trial's verdict and sentencing phase started about 9 a.m. local time Tuesday. It wrapped just before 6 p.m., after lawyers for four of Bolsonaro's close allies took the floor.

The court panel has scheduled sessions on five days through Sept. 12 to decide whether Bolsonaro is guilty. Bolsonaro's lawyer is expected to speak Wednesday morning.

“History teaches us that impunity, omission, and cowardice are not options for peace,” Justice Alexandre de Moraes said as the trial commenced.

De Moraes, who is presiding over the case and is considered a foe by Bolsonaro, also said that the role of the Supreme Court is to judge impartially “regardless of threats or legal action, ignoring internal or external pressure.”

That was an indirect swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump, who directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally’s judicial situation. Trump has called the proceedings a “witch hunt” against a political opponent, triggering nationalist reactions from many Brazilian politicians.

On Monday night, Bolsonaro's sons Carlos and Jair Renan prayed along with other supporters during a vigil at the condominium where he is serving house arrest.

Outside the home, demonstrators against the ex-president blew up a huge balloon depicting Bolsonaro in prison clothes and got into shouting matches with Bolsonaro supporters. Police intervened and separated the two groups.

The former leader was charged with five counts: attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and two counts involving destruction of state property.

A guilty verdict on the coup plot charge alone carries a sentence of up to 12 years.

Seven other close allies of Bolsonaro are being tried alongside the former president, including Walter Braga Netto, his former running mate and defense minister, and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, another former defense minister.

Brazil’s top electoral court has already banned Bolsonaro from running in elections until 2030 over abuse of power while in office and casting unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

During the coup trial, the prosecution presented handwritten notes, digital files, message exchanges, and spreadsheets that they said were evidence of the conspiracy to keep Bolsonaro in power.

The prosecution finished presenting its case in July and the defense wrapped up its arguments mid-August.

Shortly thereafter, police accused Bolsonaro and his son Eduardo of obstruction of justice, saying the ex-president wanted to flee to Argentina last year and request political asylum.

Eduardo Bolsonaro moved to the U.S. earlier this year despite holding a seat in Brazil’s Congress and has sought sanctions against de Moraes. The Trump administration imposed sanction on de Moraes in late July, freezing any assets he might have in the U.S.

Authorities see Bolsonaro as a flight risk. In the lead up to the verdict and sentencing phase, the Supreme Court ordered further security measures. On Saturday, De Moraes permitted the inspection of vehicles leaving Bolsonaro’s residence and mandated in-person surveillance of the area surrounding his home.

Lula told journalists in Sao Paulo on Tuesday that he expects the court to issue a judgement based on case records. “No one is judging anyone personally,” he said.

The left-wing president also said that Trump's administration was interfering in Brazil's justice system. “It's unbelievable,” he said. “I'm going to say it again: Trump wasn't elected to be emperor of the world.”

Experts have labeled Bolsonaro’s trial as ‘historic’ and highlighted that it’s the first time high-ranking officials accused of an attempted coup are being subjected to a criminal trial.

A military dictatorship ruled Brazil for more than two decades between 1964 and 1985, an era for which Bolsonaro has expressed nostalgia. The government passed a sweeping Amnesty Law in 1979 and Brazil never prosecuted any of the military officials responsible for the widespread human rights violations during that era.

Brazil’s violent past has yet to be fully reckoned with, but this trial marks a historic departure from impunity, said Lucas Figueiredo, the author of several books about the country's most recent dictatorship.

“History will tell whether it is 100% successful, but what we are seeing today is a movement that breaks with a tradition of military coups,” he said.

AP photographer Luis Nova contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Demonstrators hold up an inflatable doll depicting Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro wearing prisoner garb, during a protest demanding his imprisonment outside the condominium where he is under house arrest, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova)

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro stands at the entrance of his home where he is under house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova)

Dawn breaks at the Supreme Court headquarters where the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro begins in the case for allegedly leading a conspiracy to stay in power, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Journalists work outside the Supreme Court prior to the verdict and sentencing phase of a trial for those charged in an alleged coup plot to keep Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro in office after his 2022 election defeat, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

The Brazilian Supreme Court holds the verdict and sentencing phase of a trial for those charged in an alleged coup plot to keep Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro in office after his 2022 election defeat, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

The Brazilian Supreme Court holds the verdict and sentencing phase of a trial for those charged in an alleged coup plot to keep former President Jair Bolsonaro in office after his 2022 election defeat, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes speaks during the verdict and sentencing phase of a trial for those charged in an alleged coup plot to keep Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro in office after his 2022 election defeat, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

A supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro prepares a doll with his image, during a protest against his trial, in front of the condominium where he is under house arrest, in Brasilia, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro stands at the entrance to his home where he is under house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

CHERNIHIV, Ukraine (AP) — Young athletes in northern Ukraine spend their days cross-country skiing through a scorched forest, focused on their form — until a siren inevitably shatters the silence.

They respond swiftly but without panic, ditching their skis and following coaches to an underground bomb shelter.

It’s an ordinary training session at the complex that produced Ukraine’s first Olympic medalist.

Sleeping children no longer dream of Olympic glory in the facility's bombed-out dormitories, and unexploded ordnance has rendered nearby land off limits. But about 350 kids and teens — some of the nation's best young cross-country skiers and biathletes — still practice in fenced-off areas amid the sporadic buzz of drones passing overhead then explosions as they're shot down.

“We have adapted so well — even the children — that sometimes we don’t even react,” Mykola Vorchak, a 67-year-old coach, told The Associated Press in an interview on Oct. 31. “Although it goes against safety rules, the children have been hardened by the war. Adapting to this has changed them psychologically.”

War has taken a heavy toll on Ukrainian sport. Athletes were displaced or called up to fight. Soccer matches are often interrupted by air raid sirens so attendance is capped by bomb shelter capacity. Elite skaters, skiers and biathletes usually train abroad, with attacks and frequent blackouts shuttering local facilities.

But the government-run Sports Ski Base of the Olympic Reserve is open for cross-country skiing and biathlon, the event which combines skiing with shooting. The sprawling complex is on the outskirts of Chernihiv, a city two hours north of Kyiv along the path of destruction Russia's army left in its 2022 attempt to capture the capital. Chernihiv remains a regular target for air attacks aimed at the power grid and civilian infrastructure.

Several temporary structures at the sports center serve as changing rooms, toilets and coaches’ offices. Athletes train on snowy trails during the winter and, throughout the rest of the year, use roller skis on an asphalt track pocked by blast marks.

Biathletes aim laser rifles at electronic targets and, between shooting drills, sling skis over their shoulders and jog back to the start of the course, cheeks flushed from the cold.

Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina spent her adolescence at the Chernihiv center performing these same drills, and won bronze at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer. It was Ukraine’s first Olympic medal as an independent country.

“The conditions weren’t great, but we had nothing better. And for us, it was like a family — our own little home,” she said inside her apartment, its shelves and walls lined with medals, trophies and souvenirs from competitions around the world.

Tserbe-Nesina, 56, was shocked when she visited the complex in 2022. Shelling had torn through buildings, fire had consumed others. Shattered glass littered the floors of rooms where she and friends once excitedly checked taped-up results sheets.

“I went inside, up to my old room on the second floor. It was gone — no windows, nothing,” she said. “I recorded a video and found the trophies we had left at the base. They were completely burned.”

Tserbe-Nesina has been volunteering to organize funerals for fallen Ukrainian soldiers in her hometown while her husband, a retired military officer, returned to the front. They see each other about once a year, whenever his unit allows him brief leave.

One adult who in 2022 completed a tour in a territorial defense unit of Ukraine’s army sometimes trains today alongside the center's youngsters. Khrystyna Dmytrenko, 26, will represent her country at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that start Feb. 6.

“Sports can show that Ukraine is strong,” Dmytrenko said in an interview next to the shooting range. “We represent Ukraine on the international stage, letting other countries, athletes and nations see our unity, strength and determination.”

The International Olympic Committee imposed bans and restrictions on Russian athletes after the invasion of Ukraine, effectively extending earlier sanctions tied to state‑sponsored doping. But a small group of them will participate in the upcoming Winter Games.

After vetting to ensure no military affiliation, they must compete without displaying any national symbols — and only in non-team events. That means Russian and Ukrainian athletes could face one another in some skating and skiing events. Moscow’s appeal at the federation level to allow its biathletes to compete is pending.

That's why many Ukrainians view training for these events as an act of defiance. Former Olympic biathlete Nina Lemesh, 52, noted that some young Ukrainians who first picked up rifles and skis at the Chernihiv ski base during wartime have become international champions in their age groups.

“Fortunately, Ukrainians remain here. They always will,” she said, standing beside the destroyed dormitories. “This is the next generation of Olympians.”

AP writer Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv contributed to this report.

A young biathlete trains outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Biathlete Khrystyna Dmytrenko poses for photos outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A young biathlete trains outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Biathletes Mykola Dorofeiev, 16, and Nazar Kravchenko, 12, left, train at the ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Biathlete Khrystyna Dmytrenko poses for photos inside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A young biathlete trains outside the destroyed ski base in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)