SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro was beneath arrest on Saturday over suspicion he was plotting to keep away from beginning a 27-year jail sentence for main a coup try.
Supreme Court docket Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw the case on Bolsonaro’s try to preserve the presidency after his defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022, ordered the preemptive arrest after saying the far-right chief’s ankle monitor was violated at 0:08 a.m. on Saturday.
Bolsonaro, 70, who had been beneath home arrest, was ordered to put on the gadget after being deemed a flight danger.
The previous president, who’s an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was taken to the headquarters of the nation’s federal police within the capital, Brasilia, from his dwelling.
Bolsonaro’s aide Andriely Cirino confirmed to The Related Press that the arrest occurred round 6 a.m. on Saturday.
The Supreme Court docket panel listening to Bolsonaro’s case will vote on de Moraes’ order in a rare session Monday. The identical panel convicted him to jail by 4 votes to 1 in September.
The preemptive arrest is a dramatic and sudden twist within the remaining stage of a protracted and divisive prison trial. De Moraes claimed the embattled chief might escape, as a few of his allies did, simply days earlier than he was set to start his jail time period. The decide cited a video posted by Bolsonaro’s son urging supporters to protest on Saturday exterior the property the place his father had been staying.
“(The) information shows the intent of the convict to break the ankle monitoring to assure his escape is successful, which would be made easier by the confusion that would be caused by a demonstration organized by his son,” de Moraes mentioned.
The decide mentioned there was an opportunity of Bolsonaro fleeing to america embassy in Brasilia. The Supreme Court docket justice additionally talked about different defendants within the coup case and political allies of the previous president leaving Brazil to keep away from jail.
“He is located about 13 kilometers (8 miles) away from where the United States of America embassy lies, in a distance that can be covered in a 15-minute drive,” mentioned de Moraes, who has been sanctioned by the Trump administration.
Brazil’s federal police present in August messages that linked Bolsonaro to a political asylum request to Argentina, the place an ally of his, Javier Milei, is president.
‘Pathetic illegal initiatives’
Native media reported that Bolsonaro, who was Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022 and stays a key political participant, was anticipated to start serving his sentence someday subsequent week in any case appeals of his conviction are exhausted.
De Moraes mentioned Bolsonaro’s arrest “should be made with all respect to the dignity of former President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, without the use of handcuffs and without any media exposition.”
The previous president was taken from his home in a gated group within the upscale Jardim Botanico neighborhood to the federal police headquarters, Cirino mentioned.
De Moraes talked about in his ruling a video by Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, one of many former president’s sons, during which he inspired supporters to take to the streets. A vigil exterior Bolsonaro’s residence was scheduled for afterward Saturday.
No protesters have been exterior the federal police headquarters in Brasilia as of Saturday morning. Detractors of the previous president have been celebrating on-line and scheduling events afterward the day in main Brazilian cities, although.
“The video shot by Flávio Bolsonaro stimulates the disrespect to the constitutional text, to the judicial decision and to (democratic) institutions, showing there’s no limits for the criminal organization in its attempt to create chaos and conflict in this country, in a total disrespect to democracy,” de Moraes wrote in his ruling.
“Brazil’s democracy has reached sufficient maturity to steer away and prosecute pathetic illegal initiatives to defend the criminal organization that is responsible for a coup d’etat attempt in Brazil,” he added.
Bolsonaro and a number of other of his allies have been convicted by a panel of Supreme Court docket justices for trying to overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his 2022 election defeat. Prosecutors mentioned the coup plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and de Moraes.
Bolsonaro was additionally discovered responsible on expenses of main an armed prison group and trying the violent abolition of the democratic rule of regulation. He denies any wrongdoing.
Bolsonaro’s allies vow to defend him
Fabio Wajngarten, Bolsonaro’s former press adviser and lawyer, mentioned the arrest of the previous president was “a terrible stain on the institutions.”
Talking in a video posted on X, Wajngarten added: “It’s a shame. I hope this is reviewed soon.” He claimed Bolsonaro’s ankle monitoring gadget was working completely as of Saturday morning.
“How could something that was broken, violated, be functioning normally nine hours later?” he wrote. “The president had dinner — a soup — yesterday with four brothers and brothers-in-law, took medication for hiccups, felt drowsy and laid down around 10 p.m. None of his sons were at the house.”
Sóstenes Cavalcante, Bolsonaro’s social gathering whip within the decrease home, accused de Moraes of displaying “psychopathy at the highest level.”
“We will always stand by your side. Stay strong,” he mentioned in a video shared with the AP. “We will respond appropriately.”
In an Instagram put up, Michelle Bolsonaro, the previous first woman, vowed Bolsonaro’s supporters “will not give up on our nation,” including: “I believe in God’s justice. Human justice, as we have seen, can’t hold anymore.” She was exterior Brasilia when her husband was arrested at dwelling.
‘Martyr and impactful popular leader’
Bolsonaro was positioned beneath home arrest in early August, weeks earlier than he was convicted. His attorneys have been pleading with Brazil’s Supreme Court docket to maintain him at dwelling to serve his sentence, citing his poor well being, however Brazilian regulation requires that every one convicts begin their sentences in jail.
Creomar de Souza, a political analyst with Dharma Political Threat and Technique, a political consultancy agency primarily based in Brasilia, mentioned the transfer by de Moraes could have influence on subsequent 12 months’s presidential election, with Lula searching for reelection and Bolsonaro already barred from operating.
“They had the idea of turning the 2026 election into a referendum on Bolsonaro. And for that to happen they needed actions, they needed to build an optics of Bolsonaro as a martyr and an impactful popular leader,” de Souza instructed the AP. “At the end of the day, this shows the Bolsonaro family they will need to build their own alternative for the 2026 elections.”
Related Press author Gabriela Sá Pessoa contributed to this report.
