{"id":46215,"date":"2026-01-19T13:16:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T21:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46215"},"modified":"2026-01-19T13:16:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T21:16:46","slug":"how-to-bring-would-be-autocrats-to-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/19\/how-to-bring-would-be-autocrats-to-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Bring Would-Be Autocrats to Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When a democratically elected president acts undemocratically, how do you hold him accountable? It isn\u2019t easy. Most leaders \u2014 even those who attempt to hold power through coups \u2014 evade justice. But there are exceptions. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was convicted last year of leading a coup plot after his failed reelection bid in 2022. He is now serving a 27-year prison sentence. Last week, former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to five years for charges relating to his imposition of martial law in late 2024.   
 
In the new issue of the Journal of Democracy<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> Luciano Da Ros and Manoel Gehrke reveal what it takes<\/a> to bring an authoritarian justice, focusing on the example of Bolsonaro. Also, check out our coverage of Yoon\u2019s failed attempt to impose martial law and how South Korea got to such a dangerous moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Bring Authoritarians to Justice<\/a>
Brazil did something that few democracies achieve: It convicted a former president of attempting a coup. How did the country\u2019s courts hold would-be autocrat Jair Bolsonaro accountable when so many other coup plotters go unpunished?
Luciano Da Ros and Manoel Gehrke<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(jod@ned.org)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a democratically elected president acts undemocratically, how do you hold him accountable? It isn\u2019t easy. Most leaders \u2014 even those who attempt to hold power through coups \u2014 evade justice. But there are exceptions. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was convicted last year of leading a coup plot after… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46215"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46216,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46215\/revisions\/46216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}