BRASÍLIA, Aug 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - As a military man Brazil's ex-president Jair Bolsonaro had a reputation for refusing orders.

As head of state between 2019 and 2022 he thumbed his nose at institutions.

Now he risks 40 years in prison for what prosecutors describe as his most egregious act of disobedience to date: plotting to illegally cling onto power after losing elections to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The former army captain, who has the backing of US President Donald Trump, is accused of leading a criminal organization that aimed to prevent Lula from taking office in early 2023.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will begin handing down its verdict in the historic trial of Bolsonaro and seven co-accused.

The 70-year-old, who has voiced nostalgia for Brazil's 1964-1985 dictatorship, has protested his innocence.

"The word 'coup' has never been part of my vocabulary," he told the court.

He aims to mimic Trump, who staged a dramatic comeback to the presidency despite having been convicted of a felony.

- Bibles, bullets and beef -

Bolsonaro enjoys the support of Brazil's powerful "Bibles, bullets and beef" coalition -- Evangelical Christians, security hardliners and the agribusiness industry.

He shot to prominence after the 2016 impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff, with diatribes about corruption, violence, economic mismanagement and Brazil's "rotten" left.

On the campaign trial in 2018, he survived a knife attack which left him with severe abdominal wounds which continue to cause complications to this day.

His survival fueled followers' belief in their "Messiah" -- Bolsonaro's middle name -- who likened the attack to the 2024 attempt on Trump's life.

His presidency was marked by Covid-19 denialism and rampant Amazon deforestation but some early economic successes.

The pandemic, which Bolsonaro dismissed as a "little flu," claimed more than 700,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.

Smarting from his failure to win a second term, he left Brazil for Florida two days before the end of his mandate, snubbing Lula's inauguration.

A week later, on January 8, 2023, rampaging supporters calling for the army to oust Lula stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court.

That short-lived insurrection led to accusations that Bolsonaro orchestrated plans to overthrow Lula -- and knew about alleged plans to arrest, and even assassinate his rival, charges he denies.

Before his trial Bolsonaro held out hope of running for re-election in 2026, despite being barred from standing until 2030 for spreading misinformation about Brazil's electoral system.

- History of controversy -

Born in 1955 to a Catholic family with Italian roots, Bolsonaro served as an army captain before launching his political career in 1988 as a Rio de Janeiro city councilor.

In 1990, he was elected to the lower house of Congress.

He has a long history of homophobic, misogynistic and racist comments, delivered in a belligerent, everyman style which endear him to some Brazilians.

In 2011, he told Playboy magazine he would rather his sons be killed in an accident than come out as gay.

Three years later, he invited more ire by saying a left-wing lawmaker was "not worth raping" because she was "too ugly."

Twice divorced, he has five children -- four of them politicians.

His son Eduardo moved to the United States in February, where he successfully lobbied the Trump administration to impose sanctions against the judge leading the case against his father.

Trump also imposed 50-percent tariffs on a range of Brazilian imports.