Brazil hands out 17-year sentence to January 8 Congress attacker

A right-wing Brazil insurrectionist, who was seen breaking into the Senate and calling for a coup, has been handed a 17-year sentence by the country’s top court. The convict has denied any wrongdoing.

The 51-year-old was also seen recording a video as nearly 1,500 people forcefully entered the Brazillian parliament on January 8. The mob was reportedly trying to reinstate Jair Bolsonaro as the President.

The rioter, identified as Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, had been sentenced on the basis of five crimes. These include criminal association; staging a coup; violent attack on the rule of law; qualified damage; and destruction of public assets.

Pereira has maintained that he participated in a peaceful demonstration of unarmed people, news agency PTI reported.

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The insurrection in Brazil mimicked the US Capitol riots of 2021. The right-wing mob refused to accept a close election defeat of their preferred leader. Leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the elections by a small margin.