By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) -A five-judge panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court will kick off on September 2 the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, accused of plotting a coup after his electoral defeat, a court document showed on Friday.
The head of the panel, Justice Cristiano Zanin, scheduled court sessions for September 2-12, according to the document.
Bolsonaro, who this month was put under house arrest for failing to comply with restraining orders, faces charges he conspired with allies to violently overturn his 2022 electoral loss to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers declined to comment.
The former right-wing leader denies any wrongdoing, but told Reuters in an interview last month he had no doubt the Supreme Court would find him guilty.
The legal case against Bolsonaro has been cited by U.S. President Donald Trump, who refers to it as a “witch hunt,” as grounds for his decision to impose a 50% tariff on goods from Brazil.
“I think he’s an honest man … This is really a political execution that they’re trying to do with Bolsonaro,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case against the former president, had asked Zanin on Thursday to schedule the trial.
The United States last month imposed financial sanctions on Moraes. The judge said he would ignore the sanctions and continue to do his job.
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Additional reporting by Luciana Magalhaes; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Natalia Siniawski, Kylie Madry, Rod Nickel)
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