Bolsonaro begins serving his 27-year prison sentence at the police station where he is already being held.
The 70-year-old former Brazilian president, who is in poor health, had been held in pretrial detention since last Saturday.
BarcelonaBrazil's Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday that former President Jair Bolsonaro begin serving his 27-year prison sentence for his role in a coup attempt at the Federal Police Superintendency headquarters in Brasília, the same police station where he had been held in pretrial detention since Saturday. Bolsonaro is being held in a 12-square-meter room with a single bed, a small table, a television, and wooden shelves, according to images released by the Federal Police. The decision to begin serving his sentence comes after Bolsonaro's defense team waived its right to file further appeals, for which it had until Monday. The initial appeals had been unanimously rejected by the four members of the Supreme Court's First Chamber, which is responsible for the case.
Although Judge Alejandro de Moraes, the trial rapporteur, declared the proceedings over after considering that all avenues of appeal had been exhausted, it is likely that his lawyers will again request house arrest, citing "humanitarian" reasons, as they had already indicated. The far-right leader is suffering from anxiety attacks, hiccups, and vomiting, aftereffects of the stab wound to the abdomen during the 2018 election campaign, which has required him to undergo surgery several times.
Guilty of a coup d'état
Bolsonaro, 70 years old and in poor health, was detained in pretrial detention regime since SaturdayAfter attempting to damage the electronic monitoring bracelet he was wearing with a homemade soldering iron, an action the judge interpreted as an escape attempt, the former head of state denied any such intention before a judge, attributing the incident to "paranoia" and "hallucinations" caused by medication he takes to combat depression and other health problems. Since August, the former president had been under house arrest due to violating several precautionary measures imposed on him during the trial. Bolsonaro was found guilty of orchestrating a coup d'état for having plotted with the military to retain power after losing the 2022 elections, in which he sought reelection, to the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The plot included assassinating Lula and other officials and culminated in the violent assault on the Presidential Palace, the Congress, and the Supreme Court by thousands of Bolsonaro supporters on January 8, 2023, with the aim of preventing Lula from taking office, as established by the Supreme Court. Bolsonaro's co-conspirators in the coup attempt must also begin serving their sentences. General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira, former Minister of Defense, and General Augusto Heleno, former Minister of Institutional Security, were arrested and imprisoned at the Planalto Military Command in Brasília, where they begin serving sentences of 19 and 21 years, respectively.
Admiral Almir Garnier Santos, former commander of the Navy, was arrested by Navy officers and detained at a naval base, while former Justice Minister Anderson Torres is expected to be transferred to the prison for police officers and other "special" prisoners in Bras. Both are beginning 24-year sentences.
Bolsonaro's former Defense Minister, General Walter Braga Netto, who received a 26-year sentence, was already incarcerated after being arrested last December. Former intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem received a 16-year sentence but fled to the United States to avoid prison.
