BRASILIA, Feb 4, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - In an unprecedented case for Brazil, a military tribunal announced Tuesday that it would examine whether to strip former president Jair Bolsonaro of his rank, along with several generals who were all convicted with an attempted coup. Bolsonaro, a former army captain, was sentenced by the Supreme Court last September to 27 years in prison after being found guilty of conspiring to cling to power following his defeat by the current leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in the 2022 election. The president of the Superior Military Court (STM), Maria Elizabeth Rocha, said the tribunal will discuss a request from military prosecutors to declare Bolsonaro and four senior commanders to be unworthy of retaining their ranks and benefits in the armed forces. Bolsonaro will be judged by a "court of honor" that will consider whether he retains his captain's rank despite being convicted over the coup plot, she said. "This is the first time that we are truly...judging the loss of rank of a general officer."
