On the first day of his incarceration, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro informed a judge that he had damaged his ankle monitor the day before while on house arrest due to experiencing a nervous breakdown and hallucinations triggered by a recent change in his medication. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the 70-year-old ex-leader’s preventive imprisonment on the grounds of flight risk. Bolsonaro had been sentenced to 27 years in jail in September for orchestrating a coup to retain power following his defeat in the 2022 elections.
Assistant judge Luciana Sorrentino revealed that Bolsonaro claimed he hallucinated about being wiretapped through his ankle monitor, leading him to tamper with it. He expressed that this was an unprecedented breakdown for him, possibly linked to recent medication changes. Bolsonaro denied any intention of escape and admitted to experiencing sleep disturbances and a sense of paranoia that drove him to investigate the ankle monitor.
Bolsonaro stated that he was with his daughter, brother, and an aide at home, none of whom witnessed his actions with the ankle monitor. The breach of the ankle monitor at 12:08 a.m. on Saturday led to the subsequent arrest order by De Moraes. In September, a Supreme Court panel found Bolsonaro guilty of attempting a coup to cling to power after losing to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the 2022 elections.
The same panel is set to vote on the preemptive arrest order on Monday. Bolsonaro’s meeting with the assistant judge centered on the legality of his detention and his lawyers’ plea for house arrest due to health concerns, a request previously denied by the judge. De Moraes granted permission for Bolsonaro to receive a visit from his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, who was away from Brasilia when he was taken into custody by federal agents.
Lula, speaking at the G20 summit in South Africa, commented on Bolsonaro’s imprisonment, stating, “The court has made its decision, and everyone is aware of his actions.” At the federal police headquarters, supporters of Bolsonaro called for the removal of Lula and De Moraes from their positions, while critics of the former president celebrated his incarceration.