BRASILIA (Reuters) -The Brazilian Supreme Court voted on Thursday to convict the first person to stand trial for the storming of government buildings in the capital Brasilia on Jan. 8 to 17 years in prison.
A majority of the justices voted to convict Aecio Lucio Costa Pereira, a former employee of water utility Sabesp, who was arrested in the Senate building during the invasion, for crimes that include an attempted coup d’etat, armed criminal association and damage to historic buildings.
The trial was the opener of a first batch of four people directly involved in the invasions.
In January, supporters of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded and vandalized Brazil’s Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court a week after leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office, protesting his victory in the October election and calling for a military coup.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Steven Grattan)
