FAFO

Rioter Who Stormed Brazil Capital Given 17-Year Sentence

Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira is one of the few rioters who has been given a sentence thus far.

The Supreme Court of Brazil handed down one of its first lengthy sentences tied to the Jan. 8 storming of the country’s capital this year by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, NBC News reported. Police detained almost 1,500 people in connection with the riot. Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, who recorded himself breaking into the building during the January uprising, was given a 17-year prison sentence by the court. Pereira was found guilty of five crimes: destruction of public assets, staging a coup, violent attack on the rule of law, qualified damage, and criminal association. He had denied wrongdoing, maintaining his actions constituted a peaceful demonstration.