What It’s Been Like Covering the Trial of Jair Bolsonaro

On Thursday, the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil voted to convict former president Jair Bolsonaro of plotting a coup to overturn his election loss in 2022 to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The trial, held inside a modernist cylindrical structure known familiarly as the igrejinha, or “little church,” lasted a little over a week, and was a media sensation. Five hundred and one journalists were accredited to cover it, eighty of whom were allowed inside the actual court building on any given day.

The logistics alone were maddening: the interminably long days and sometimes inscrutable jargon of the justices created challenges for even the most experienced reporters, who carried with them the burden of capturing history as it unfolded. Bolsonaro is the first former Brazilian president to be convicted for attacking the country’s democratic process. He was sentenced to twenty-seven years and three months in prison, although his attorneys are expected to ask for house arrest. These accounts have been translated from the Portuguese and edited for length and clarity.