Brazil's Supreme Court has sentenced former President Jair Bolsonaro to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a military coup and seeking to annihilate" democracy in Brazil following his election defeat in 2022. The sentencing marks the first time a former Brazilian head of state is brought to trial and convicted for attempting to overthrow the government. Bolsonaro and his co-conspirators, who were also sentenced to prison, hatched a plan that involved using armed forces to assassinate the President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.The decision was made amid political pressure from the Trump administration to drop the case against Bolsonaro. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged that the U.S. would respond accordingly," calling the ruling a witch hunt. Latin American countries need to be united and have a very strong position to defend democracy and to defend our sovereignty and independence," says Maria Luisa Mendonca, director of the Network for Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil.