Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was arrested days ahead of his imprisonment over fears he could mount an escape.
In February, Brazilian Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet charged Bolsonaro with attempting a coup to overthrow Brazil’s democratic order, and in September, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison. He was detained by police in the early hours of Saturday in Brasília after the Supreme Court ruled there were “extremely serious indications of a possible escape attempt.”
The order came after Bolsonaro’s ankle monitor was breached at 12:08 a.m. that day, according to a copy of the ruling viewed by the Washington Post.
The Supreme Court voiced concerns that the former president intended to “escape, facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration organized by his son.” The planned vigil was scheduled to take place outside Bolsonaro’s home on Saturday, an event the court warned could “cause serious harm to public order” and prevent his arrest.
The Supreme Court feared that the event could balloon in size and last several days, leading to “unpredictable effects, developments, and consequences.”
Bolsonaro was taken to a relatively luxurious room in the Federal Police headquarters in the meantime, according to a federal police official speaking with the outlet.
The arrest was discreet. The Supreme Court’s order said the arrest “must be carried out with full respect for the dignity of former president Jair Messias Bolsonaro, without the use of handcuffs and without any media exposure.”
Bolsonaro has been confined to house arrest since August, after Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice and the judge responsible for Bolsonaro’s case, alleged that the former president had violated the terms of his restraining order by sharing posts through his sons’ and allies’ social media accounts. Moraes ordered authorities to seize his cellphone and confine him to house arrest, limiting visits to his family and allies.
Moraes claimed that Bolsonaro had used third-party social media accounts to spread messages calling for attacks against the Supreme Court and the judiciary.
On Friday, Bolsonaro’s attorneys formally requested that Bolsonaro be sentenced to a “humanitarian house arrest” instead of prison, citing his poor health, due in part to his stabbing during his 2017 presidential campaign.
“It is essential to have adequate infrastructure for administering medication and conducting regular medical consultations and evaluations, including emergency care,” they wrote.
Bolsonaro’s trial and conviction have led to serious friction with the United States, where President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced the case as politically motivated.
FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT BOLSONARO SENTENCED TO OVER 27 YEARS IN PRISON FOR COUP ATTEMPT
The indictment of Bolsonaro alleged that prosecutors obtained extensive evidence showing Bolsonaro approved a plot to assassinate his electoral rival, current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Moraes. Lula was to be poisoned, while Moraes was to be shot by special forces, according to the indictment. Though ultimately abandoned, the plotters went so far as to begin tracking Moraes’s movements, according to the New York Times.
Bolsonaro approached his indictment similarly to Trump, drawing parallels between the two and denouncing his prosecution as politically motivated.