Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro outside his residence in Brasilia on Thursday, September 11. Sergio Lima/AFP/Getty Images

Brazil crossed a line on Thursday that it had never dared before: its Supreme Court convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow democracy, sentencing him to more than 27 years in prison. At 70, the verdict leaves him facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars.

The decision marks an extraordinary break with the country’s history of deferring justice in the name of peace. For decades, generals, coup-plotters, and torturers walked free under the shield of amnesty laws passed after the country’s 21-year dictatorship. Now, the same institutions once intimidated by authoritarian power have declared that a former com

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