BRASILIA, March 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a bid by ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to have three judges removed from the bench that will decide whether he should be tried for orchestrating an attempted coup.

The former far-right leader is one of more than 30 people, including former ministers and high-ranking military members, charged over an alleged plot to overthrow Bolsonaro's left-wing successor, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Among the judges whose recusal was sought by Bolsonaro's defense team is powerful justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has led multiple investigations into the country's divisive 2019-2022 president.

Moraes is part of the five-judge panel that will meet on March 25 to decide whether or not there is sufficient evidence to try the country's 2019-2022 president.

If convicted, he risks a prison term of more than 40 years.

Bolsonaro's lawyers had argued that Moraes's presence on the bench constituted a conflict of interest because the alleged plot to overthrow Lula included a plan to assassinate Moraes as well as Lula and his vice president.

Defence lawyers had also argued that two other judges, Flavio Dino, a former justice minister under Lula, and Cristiano Zanin, Lula's former lawyer, should also be recused.

Bolsonaro is accused of having backed January 8, 2023 riots in the capital Brasilia, which saw his supporters attack the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court.

The demonstrators demanded that the military oust Lula, who had defeated Bolsonaro in October 2022 elections and been sworn in just a week earlier

Bolsonaro, who turns 70 on Friday, denies the charges.

He claims he is the victim of a politically driven judicial hounding aimed at preventing him from making a comeback in elections next year.

The former army captain is barred from holding elected office until 2030 for having made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in Brazil's electronic voting system, but he is hoping to have the ban overturned by Congress.

The Supreme Court has announced that security will be stepped up around the building in Brasilia for the March 25 meeting of his case.

The court could issue its decision the same day on whether Bolsonaro should face trial, a source told AFP.