Brazil’s top court imposes 17-year sentence in first case against rioters who stormed capital

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday handed a 17-year prison sentence to a supporter of former President Jair Bolsonaro who stormed top government offices on January 8 in an alleged bid to forcefully restore the right-wing leader to office.

Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, 51, is the first of several participants in the uprising to be sentenced. Police arrested him on the day of the riot.

Cameras at the Senate filmed him wearing a shirt calling for a military coup and recording a video of himself praising others who had also broken into the building. 

Almost 1,500 people were detained that day, though most have been released.

Eight of the 11 justices of the court ruled that Pereira committed five crimes: criminal association; staging a coup; violent attack on the rule of law; qualified damage; and destruction of public assets.

They sentenced him to 17 years in prison.

Pereira denied any wrongdoing and claimed he took part in a peaceful demonstration of unarmed people.

The rioters had refused to accept Bolsonaro's defeat to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose inauguration took place one week before the uprising.

Lula, who also governed Brazil between 2003-2010, beat Bolsonaro by the narrowest margin in Brazil's modern history.

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