Free speech in South America's largest country took a hit last week after former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was punished for questioning the legitimacy of last year's election. 

According to the Washington Post, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court decided in a five to two ruling that Bolsonaro may not seek elected office again for another eight years.

First time in Brazil's history that judges have banned a former president

Should the decision survive an appeal to the Brazilian Supreme Court, then Bolsonaro will have no shot of regaining the presidency until he is 75 years old.

That move came after the former president was convicted of abuse of power, with the judges stating he had undermined confidence in the electoral process.

The Post noted how this is the first time in Brazil's history that a former president has been banned from running for office.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes serves as president of the electoral court, and he boasted that Friday's decision would "confirm our faith in democracy."

Moraes also insisted that the verdict reflects "our degree of repulsion toward the shameful populism that has been reborn from flames of hateful and anti-democratic speech and statements that propagate disgraceful disinformation."

Current left-wing president was previously sent to jail on corruption charges

Brazil's current leader, left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has himself previously struggled with legal problems.

Popularly known as Lula, he served two terms as president between 2003 and 2011 but was later sent to prison on corruption charges.

However, the former president's 12-year sentence was tossed out by Brazil's Supreme Court in 2021, thus allowing him to run again last year.

For his part, Bolsonaro slammed last week's decision, complaining that he was "stabbed in the back" before adding, "I would not like to become blocked from running for office. But in politics — and this sentence is not mine — 'nobody kills, nobody dies.'"

Bolsonaro engaged in brief Twitter feud with actor Mark Ruffalo

Bolsonaro has a reputation for being outspoken, even trolling Hollywood actor Mark Ruffo, who said last October that television personality Fabio Porchat would teach him to dance if the then-president was defeated.

Amigos brasileiros, se vocês forem votar no Domingo, o @FabioPorchat prometeu que me ensina a dançar "Envolver" da @anitta. https://t.co/5VEvHQuubA

— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) October 1, 2022

Bolsonaro responded by tweeting out footage showing him dancing shirtless to a song by Brazilian recording artist Anitta.

https://t.co/QuRaGVPuEA pic.twitter.com/iZUUMmbRnh

— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) October 1, 2022