Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro to begin serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a failed coup, after he exhausted all appeals.
The former army captain, who reshaped Brazil’s politics and polarized the nation, is now jailed in a small, secure room at police headquarters in Brasilia, equipped with a TV, mini-fridge, and air-conditioning.
Bolsonaro, 70, was convicted in September for a scheme to prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office following the 2022 elections, a plan that included a plot to assassinate the veteran leftist. Prosecutors said the plot failed only due to a lack of support from senior military officers.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal earlier this month, and Tuesday’s ruling made the sentence final and unchallengeable. The court also ordered a military tribunal to determine whether Bolsonaro should be stripped of his captain’s rank.
Bolsonaro had been under house arrest until Saturday, when he was detained at police headquarters for tampering with his ankle monitor using a soldering iron. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes cited “very serious indications of a possible attempt to flee” during a vigil organized by Bolsonaro’s son, noting the nearby US embassy and Bolsonaro’s ties to former US President Donald Trump as possible motives for seeking asylum.
During a Sunday hearing, Bolsonaro said he “experienced a certain paranoia” due to medications and denied any intention to flee. He earlier claimed the soldering-iron incident was done out of “curiosity.”
The court ruled he will remain in the secure officers’ room for protected prisoners in Brasilia.
Health concerns and family reactions
Before the tampering incident, Bolsonaro’s lawyers had requested that he serve his sentence at home due to health concerns. The court rejected the petition after his detention.
Bolsonaro suffers lingering effects from a stab wound sustained during the 2018 campaign, requiring multiple follow-up surgeries, and persistent gastric issues causing uncontrollable hiccups, shortness of breath, and fainting. His lawyers cited the example of former president Fernando Collor de Mello, who was allowed to serve a nearly nine-year sentence at home on health grounds.
After visiting her father, Carlos Bolsonaro described him as “extremely fragile and psychologically devastated,” saying, “He’s eating very little, there’s no way for someone who knows he didn’t commit a crime to see this as normal.”
Bolsonaro maintains his innocence, claiming political persecution, while his legal troubles leave Brazil’s large conservative electorate without a clear champion ahead of the 2026 presidential elections, in which Lula, 80, intends to run for a fourth term.
Lula himself previously spent 18 months in jail for corruption before the Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
AFP
