Ex-Brazil leader Jair Bolsonaro hospitalized in intensive care with bronchopneumonia

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been hospitalised in intensive care after developing bronchopneumonia while serving a prison sentence for plotting a coup.

The 70-year-old was admitted to DF Star Hospital in Brasilia after experiencing a high fever and respiratory complications at the prison where he is being held.

According to a hospital statement shared on social media by his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, the former leader had developed "high fever, a drop in oxygen saturation, sweating and chills."

Doctors said Bolsonaro is receiving intravenous antibiotics to treat what they described as "bilateral bacterial bronchopneumonia."

Earlier on Friday, Bolsonaro's eldest son Flavio, a senator and presidential hopeful, said on X that his father had woken up with chills and severe vomiting.

Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for his role in a failed coup attempt following his defeat in the 2022 presidential election.

The former president has faced recurring health complications since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.

Brazil's Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected requests from Bolsonaro's legal team for him to serve his sentence under house arrest.

"They are playing with my father's life," Flavio Bolsonaro said after leaving the hospital.

"At the very least, he should be granted humanitarian house arrest," the senator told reporters.

Political tensions

Despite his imprisonment, Bolsonaro remains a central figure in Brazilian politics ahead of the next presidential election scheduled for October.

The former president has backed his son Flavio as the right-wing candidate expected to challenge incumbent leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The political dispute intensified after Lula said he had barred a US diplomat from visiting Bolsonaro in prison.

"I banned him from coming to Brazil," Lula said, referring to Darren Beattie, a US State Department adviser on Brazil.

The decision came a day after Brazil's Supreme Court banned the envoy over concerns about potential foreign interference.

A Brazilian diplomatic source said Beattie's visa was revoked because of "lies about the purpose of the visit."

Brazil's foreign ministry said the visa had originally been granted to allow Beattie to attend a forum on critical minerals and hold official meetings with government officials.

According to court documents, a visit by a foreign public official to a former president during an election year "could constitute undue interference" in Brazil's internal affairs.

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Source: TRT