Brasília, Brazil - Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced firebrand ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for coup plotting at the end of a landmark trial that divided the nation and drew US fury.

The sentence could see the 70-year-old far-right leader spend the rest of his days in jail.

Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger.

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Prosecutors said the plan failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass.

Bolsonaro can appeal the verdict to a full chamber of the Supreme Court.

Washington was quick to respond to the conviction of the man dubbed "the Trump of the tropics" on his election in 2019.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US "will respond accordingly" to what he called a politically motivated "witch hunt."

Brazil's foreign ministry hit back, saying it would not be intimidated by Rubio's "threats."

Trump, who levied steep tariffs on Brazil as punishment over Bolsonaro's prosecution, labeled the verdict "very surprising."

He praised Bolsonaro as a "good president" and "good man" and said his legal woes were "very much like they tried to do with me."

While the Supreme Court had already garnered the simple majority of three votes needed for his conviction at the fourth vote, it only became final after the last of the five judges issued his decision.

"An armed criminal organization was formed by the defendants, who must be convicted based on the factual circumstances I consider proven," said the fifth judge, Cristiano Zanin, Lula's former lawyer.

Bolsonaro's seven co-accused, including former ministers and military chiefs, were also convicted.

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The former army captain, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, claims he is the victim of political persecution.

Speaking outside his father's home in Brasília, Bolsonaro's lawmaker son, Flavio Bolsonaro, said the politician was "holding his head high in the face of this persecution, because history will show that we are on the right side."

He added that his father's allies would act with "all their might" to secure Congress's support for an amnesty bill.

Bolsonaro's conviction came after one of the biggest and most divisive trials in Brazil's recent history, which ended with a nail-biting vote that stretched over four days.

Apart from heading a "criminal organization," the former senator was charged with knowing of a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre Moraes.

Bolsonaro was also found guilty of inciting the violent 2023 storming of the Supreme Court, presidential palace, and Congress in Brasília by hundreds of his supporters, a week after Lula was inaugurated as his successor.

He himself did not attend the verdict hearings in the capital Brasília, instead following the proceedings from his residence, where he is under house arrest.