Brazil's former president Bolsonaro begins serving 27-year prison sentence

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has begun serving his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt intended to keep him in office after losing the 2022 presidential elections. (Photo/Via TRT)

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen the case, ruled that Bolsonaro will remain at the federal police headquarters where he has been held since his pre-emptive arrest on Saturday.

He was taken into custody on the grounds that he was considered a flight risk.

Brazilian criminal law could have permitted transferring the 70-year-old to a local penitentiary or to a prison room in a military facility in Brasilia.

De Moraes found that Bolsonaro’s defence had exhausted all appeals of his conviction on Monday.

His lawyers had argued he should be placed under house arrest due to health concerns.

Bolsonaro had been under house arrest since August, when de Moraes said he might attempt to flee.

The former president told authorities that "hallucinations" had prompted him to break his ankle monitor using a welder on Saturday, a claim the judge dismissed in his pre-emptive arrest order.

Brazil’s democratic system

Bolsonaro and several allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election loss.

The plot included plans to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Justice de Moraes, as well as encouraging an insurrection in early 2023.

He was also found guilty of leading an armed criminal organisation and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing.

Two other men convicted in the case, Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, both Army generals, were sent to a military facility in Brasilia to begin serving their sentences.

Former justice minister Anderson Torres is being held at the Papuda penitentiary in the capital.

Adm Almir Garnier will serve his term at Navy facilities in Brasilia, while Bolsonaro’s former running mate and ex-defence minister Walter Braga Netto, also an Army general, will remain in custody at military facilities in Rio de Janeiro.

De Moraes also confirmed that lawmaker and former intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem is currently on the run in the United States.

Bolsonaro remains a significant political figure despite being barred from running for office until at least 2030 under a separate electoral ruling.

His predecessor Michel Temer and his successor Lula both previously spent time in prison.

Bolsonaro is the first former president to be convicted of attempting a coup.

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Source: TRT