{"text":[[{"start":10.58,"text":"The Brazilian judge overseeing former president Jair Bolsonaro’s trial on coup charges has vowed to ignore US sanctions and press ahead with a verdict in the case of the Donald Trump ally."}],[{"start":23.41,"text":"Alexandre de Moraes said Brazil’s supreme court would not “bend to cowardly and fruitless threats” and would carry out its constitutional mission, in his first comments since Washington imposed an asset freeze and visa ban on him, which are normally reserved for serious human rights violators."}],[{"start":43.16,"text":"“In particular, in this second half of the year, it will reach the judgments and the conclusions of . . . the important penal actions related to the attempted coup of January 8,” he said in remarks at the opening of a supreme court session in Brasília."}],[{"start":62.199999999999996,"text":"The US president has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on most Brazilian exports from August 6 to press his demand that the country halts the trial of Bolsonaro, which he has called a “witch-hunt”. The levy is the highest country-specific tariff rate in his broader trade war."}],[{"start":82.6,"text":"Bolsonaro is accused of plotting to overturn his election defeat to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in October 2022 and attempting a coup with the help of the military. He has denied the charges, which could land him in jail for the rest of his life if convicted, but has admitted discussing “alternative scenarios” with military chiefs following the election outcome."}],[{"start":109.89999999999999,"text":"De Moraes has drawn the ire of the Trump administration because he ordered the coup plot investigation against Bolsonaro and is overseeing his court case. He has also taken an aggressive stance against US social media companies, ordering them to take down numerous posts which he deems anti-democratic, hate speech or “fake news”."}],[{"start":132.98999999999998,"text":"Marco Rubio, secretary of state, has already banned de Moraes and seven other Brazilian supreme court judges from entering the US. On Wednesday, the US Treasury announced it was imposing sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act on de Moraes."}],[{"start":150.17999999999998,"text":"US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said “de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch-hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies”."}],[{"start":164.12999999999997,"text":"The Magnitsky Act sanctions will freeze any US assets de Moraes may hold and ban US banks and companies as well as US nationals from doing business with him."}],[{"start":176.06999999999996,"text":"The US measures are unprecedented against a democratically elected foreign government and have been rejected by Lula as unacceptable interference in Brazil’s sovereign justice system."}],[{"start":188.55999999999997,"text":"They follow a fierce lobbying campaign in Washington by Bolsonaro’s congressman son Eduardo for punitive measures against Brazil to help his father, which was condemned by de Moraes on Friday."}],[{"start":204.30999999999997,"text":"“We are witnessing several intentional and conscious acts of a criminal organisation that acts in a cowardly and treasonous manner, with the aim of trying to subject the functioning of the Federal Supreme Court to the scrutiny of foreign authorities,” said de Moraes."}],[{"start":232.6,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftmailbox.cn/album/a_1754271958_2324.mp3"}