The verdict and sentencing stage has begun in the trial of Brazil’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who faces charges of leading a conspiracy to remain in power after losing the 2022 election.

This comes after the prosecution presented its case in July, while the defence concluded arguments in mid-August. Brazil’s Supreme Court has scheduled sessions until September 12 to reach a verdict.

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Bolsonaro, who denies any wrongdoing, is charged with five counts, including attempting to stage a coup, plotting the assassination of current leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and a Supreme Court justice, and involvement in an armed criminal organisation.

Al Jazeera’s Monica Yanakiew, reporting from Brasilia, said the former president “was not going to attend at least, not his first day” before the Supreme Court concludes his verdict and sentencing along with that of seven co-defendants.

She noted that Bolsonaro has been under house arrest since August 4, and that his lawyers expect a conviction, saying there is “overwhelming evidence pointing to several crimes, among them attempting against democracy and allegedly plotting a coup”.

Prosecutors also allege Bolsonaro’s allies devised plans to kill President Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.

They also argue that a January 8, 2023 riot in Brasilia – when Bolsonaro backers stormed Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace one week after Lula took office, evoking a January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol by supporters of Bolsonaro ally US President Donald Trump – was part of an effort to trigger military intervention and remove the new president.

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A guilty verdict on the coup plot charge alone could carry a sentence of up to 12 years.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s former president is already barred from seeking office until 2030. The country’s top electoral court imposed the ban after finding he abused power while in office and spread baseless claims about the electronic voting system.

A federal police investigation concluded that Bolsonaro’s dissemination of misinformation was part of a multipronged strategy to stay in power.

Yanakiew added that the case “really brought relations between Brazil and the United States to a very, very low point”.

This comes as Trump denounced the trial as a “witch hunt” while slapping a steep 50 percent tariff on Brazilian imports.

His remarks have fuelled nationalist responses among Bolsonaro’s allies, while the US Department of State imposed sanctions against Alexandre de Moraes, the justice overseeing the case.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former president’s son and a sitting member of Brazil’s Congress, relocated to the US earlier this year, and had previously lobbied for the imposition of US sanctions.

Meanwhile, Brazilian authorities consider Jair Bolsonaro a potential flight risk, and ahead of the verdict phase, the Supreme Court has ordered heightened security, including the inspection of vehicles leaving his residence and in-person surveillance around his home.

Bolsonaro’s trial represents a break from Brazil’s tradition of impunity. Under the 1979 Amnesty Law, the country never prosecuted military officials responsible for abuses during the dictatorship, a dark era that Bolsonaro extols.

Yanakiew noted that “the defence will try to negotiate with politicians an amnesty in Congress in case he is really convicted and sentenced”, but analysts say the case itself signals that Brazil’s democratic institutions are maturing under Lula’s leadership.