Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has defended the trial which saw his predecessor in office, Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a coup.
In an opinion piece published in the New York Times, Lula dismissed the description by US President Donald Trump of the trial as a “witch hunt”, saying that it was a “historic decision which safeguard’s our institutions and the democratic rule of law”.
The Brazilian leader said he had written the essay to establish an open and frank dialogue with US President Donald Trump, who has imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports.
Lula called the tariff hike “not only misguided but illogical”.
Relations have been tense between the US and Brazil in recent months, in stark contrast to the times when Trump’s counterpart in Brazil was Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro often expressed his admiration for Trump, who hosted him at his Mar-a Lago resort in 2020.
Lula, a left-wing leader, who is known for his direct tone, did not mince his words in his New York Times editorial.
He said that over the past 15 years the US had “accumulated a surplus of $410bn (£302bn) in bilateral trade in goods and services”, adding the decision to impose the tariffs could only be political.
“The US government is using tariffs and the Magnitsky Act to seek impunity for former President Jair Bolsonaro,” Lula wrote, referring to the sanctions which the US has imposed on the Supreme Court justice who led the trial against Bolsonaro.
The trial concluded on Thursday when four out of the five Supreme Court justices on the panel tasked with judging Bolsonaro found him guilty of all five charges he was facing. A simple majority was needed to convict him.
Bolsonaro has been sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison – a sentence which his lawyers say they will appeal against.
Trump said he found the verdict “very surprising” and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US would “respond accordingly to this witch hunt”.
In his New York Times article, Lula insisted the trial was “not a ‘witch hunt'”.
“The judgement was the result of proceedings carried out in accordance with Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, enacted after two decades of struggle against a military dictatorship,” he wrote, reminding readers that Brazil’s democracy was restored in 1985 after 20 years of military rule.
Lula also dismissed the Trump administration’s accusations that Brazil’s justice system had targeted and censored US tech firms.
The Brazilian president said that his country’s courts were right to regulate the internet and that US firms were not being treated unfairly.
He concluded his essay by addressing President Trump directly, telling his US counterpart that Brazil remains open to negotiating “anything that can bring mutual benefits”, but warned Trump that “Brazil’s democracy and sovereignty are not on the table”.
