Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has called for former president Jair Bolsonaro's conviction on five criminal charges, including attempted coup d'état, during the first day of deliberations in Brazil's historic coup trial, requesting sentences ranging from 12 to 43 years.

In a five-hour presentation on September 9, Moraes detailed evidence supporting charges of attempted violent abolition of the state, coup d'état, criminal organisation membership, and property damage, warning that "Brazil almost reverted to a dictatorship due to a criminal organisation led by Jair Messias Bolsonaro, who doesn't know how to lose elections."

Moraes argued Bolsonaro led a hierarchical group with divided tasks aimed at restricting judicial actions and circumventing checks and balances to perpetuate his power illegally, overturning the results of the 2022 general election.

“The leader of the criminal group makes it clear here – aloud, publicly, to the whole of society – that he would never accept a democratic defeat in the elections, that he would never accept or comply with the will of the people,” Moraes said, as quoted by Agencia Brasil.

The judge stated the coup plot began forming in July 2021 through speeches delegitimising the electoral system, violent acts, and threats against authorities.

The justice said that assassination plans targeting then-president-elect Lula, vice president-elect Geraldo Alckmin, and Moraes himself were "fully proven in the case files; there is an excess of evidence," noting printed reports appeared twice in presidential palaces where Bolsonaro was present.

Moraes described the January 8, 2023 storming of government buildings in Brasília as "the criminal organisation's final attempt to carry out what Bolsonaro proclaimed in 2021" when he warned the Armed Forces "never failed to respond to the call of the Brazilian people."

Bolsonaro, under house arrest, followed proceedings from home alongside seven co-defendants, six of whom are military personnel.

The far-right leader, an ideological ally of US President Donald Trump, denies having attempted a coup but acknowledged convening the Armed Forces leadership to "discuss exceptional measures" after the electoral defeat.

The United States last month imposed sweeping 50% tariffs, some of the steepest levies imposed by Washington, on Brazilian exports over what Trump characterised as a "witch hunt" against Bolsonaro. It has also hit Moraes with targeted sanctions under the controversial Magnitsky Act.

Unlike most supreme courts globally, Brazil's justices deliberate publicly, allowing live observation of verdict construction.

Moraes voted first as presiding judge, with four colleagues from the First Chamber expected to announce votes in the coming days. Three votes suffice for conviction or acquittal.

More than 1,000 citizens will attend the remaining sessions through to September 12’s expected verdict.

The outspoken judge has become Bolsonarism's primary foe since 2019, handling most cases involving the former president's family and political movement whilst accumulating power with Supreme Court majority support, including last year's controversial shutdown order targeting Elon Musk's X social network.