Brazil's Supreme Court began verdict deliberations Tuesday in the trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, the Donald Trump ally accused of plotting a coup to retain power after he lost the 2022 election.

In opening comments for the multi-day session, presiding Justice Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro aimed to install a "real dictatorship" when he allegedly launched the uprising.

Referring to extraordinary pressure put on Brazil by the US president, as well as domestic tensions, de Moraes said the top court would operate "independent from internal or external threats and coercion."

Bolsonaro, 70, faces a prison sentence of more than four decades if convicted of conspiring to cling onto power after losing to leftist rival and current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Verdicts in h

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