Accused of leading an alleged coup d'état, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro will be tried on September 2, the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) has decided.

The date was set by the president of the First Panel of the STF, Cristiano Zanin.

According to the international press, the magistrate also decided that, if necessary, hearings will be held on September 3, 9, 10 and 12, when the trial will determine whether the Brazilian far-right leader will be convicted of an alleged coup attempt to remain in power after his defeat in the 2022 presidential elections.

Zanin determined the date of the oral trial at the request of the rapporteur of the case in Brazil's highest court, Alexandre de Moraes, who presented his request on Thursday, after the eight defendants had delivered their closing arguments.

In addition to Bolsonaro, four former ministers of his government (2018-2022), Anderson Torres, Augusto Heleno, General Walter Braga Netto and General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, are among the defendants in the same case.

Also on trial as part of the central nucleus of the alleged coup plot are the former commander of the Brazilian Navy, Almir Garnier, the former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) Alexandre Ramagem and Colonel Mauro Cid, Bolsonaro's former personal advisor when he held the Presidency of the Republic.

All the defendants are charged with the crimes of coup, attempting to abolish the rule of law, armed association to commit crimes, damaging public property and damaging public property.

According to the indictment filed by Brazil's Attorney General, Rodrigo Janot, Bolsonaro did not recognize the result of the elections and Brazil was plunged into a maelstrom of protests and an institutional crisis which, according to the indictment, was aimed at preventing the inauguration of the current President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The head of the Brazilian Public Prosecutor's Office said that, after the failure of the initial plans, the defendants allegedly incited the attack on Brasilia on January 8, 2023, a week after Lula da Silva's inauguration, when thousands of 'bolsonaristas' invaded and vandalized the headquarters of the Three Powers.

In his closing arguments, Bolsonaro categorically rejected all the charges through his lawyers, who asked the court to acquit him.

The former president's defense claimed that there is an absolute lack of evidence, denied his participation in a coup plot and described the prosecutor's office's accusations as "absurd".

The criminal case against the Brazilian far-right leader has triggered a diplomatic and trade conflict between Brazil and the United States, whose president, Donald Trump, has applied 50% of tariffs to Brazilian products in retaliation for a trial he considers "unfair" and the product of "political persecution". (Source: NMinuto)