PGR defends rejection of new request for criminal review that could annul Jair Bolsonaro's conviction

The former President of the Republic, Jair Messias Bolsonaro (PL), made an appearance lasting around 20 minutes in the backyard of the house where he was under house arrest on September 9, 2025 — Photo: Wilton Junior/Estadão Conteúdo

For Gonet, the request for criminal review made by the lawyers does not meet the legal requirements to be examined by the Supreme Court.

Gonet also pointed out that the defense did not present new elements that justify changing the conviction, that no harm to Bolsonaro's defense during the coup plot process was proven and that the sentence was supported by several pieces of evidence.

The former president's defense had presented the request on September 25th. For the second time, the lawyers asked for the execution of the sentence to be suspended.

🔎Criminal review is an action that allows you to challenge a conviction that has already become final, in situations provided for by law, such as the emergence of new evidence.

The action cited as “new evidence” a technical opinion that, according to the former president's lawyers, identified problems in the so-called chain of custody and limitations in verifying part of the digital evidence used in the process.

🎯The chain of custody is the set of procedures used to record and monitor evidence from its acquisition to its use in the process. In the case of digital evidence, this control makes it possible to verify, for example, the origin and integrity of the files.

The opinion does not state that evidence was tampered with. The defense's argument is that, in part of the material analyzed, it was not possible to fully verify the origin and processing of the data.