A Brazilian Supreme Court panel opened the verdict and sentencing phase Tuesday in the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro on allegations that he led a conspiracy to stay in power after losing the 2022 presidential election.

The court panel scheduled sessions on five days through Sept. 12 to decide whether the far-right ex-leader is guilty of seeking to overturn the election result in which he was narrowly defeated by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“In Brazil’s republican history, there has once again been an attempt at a coup d’état. An attack against the institutions and democracy itself, with the intention of installing a state of exception and a true dictatorship,” Justice Alexandre de Moraes said as the trial commenced.

De Moraes, who is presiding over the case and is considered a foe by Bolsonaro, also said that the role of the Supreme Court is to judge impartially.

That was an swipe at President Donald Trump, who directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally’s judicial situation.

Trump has called the proceedings a “witch hunt” against a political opponent, triggering nationalist reactions from many Brazilian politicians.

Bolsonaro, who denies any wrongdoing, has repeatedly said the trial is politically motivated.

He is under house arrest and was not present at the court on Tuesday.

His lawyer Celso Vilardi told journalists that was because of Bolsonaro's ill health.

Bolsonaro is accused of attempting to stage a coup, involvement in an armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law and two counts involving destruction of state property.

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

Brazil’s top electoral court has already banned Bolsonaro from running in elections until 2030 over abuse of power while in office and casting unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

A federal police investigation said efforts to disseminate fake news about Brazil’s voting system were part of a multipronged plan to keep Bolsonaro in office.

Part of that plot included a plan to kill Lula and a Supreme Court justice, the prosecution alleges.

It also says that the Jan. 8 riot when Bolsonaro supporters ransacked top government buildings a week after Lula took office was an attempt to force military intervention and oust the new president.

AP video by Lucas Dumphreys