Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, was preemptively arrested at his home early Saturday morning, days before he was expected to begin a 27-year prison sentence for orchestrating a coup following his 2022 reelection defeat. The “preventive detention” was executed at the behest of Brazil’s Supreme Court and federal police, which suspected that Bolsonaro was planning to flee his residence and seek refuge at a foreign embassy.
Ankle monitor and vigil
According to reports, an ankle monitor that Bolsonaro had been ordered to wear was tampered with around 12:08 a.m. Saturday. The arrest took place roughly six hours later.
In explaining its suspicion that Bolsonaro was planning to flee, the country’s high court cited a “vigil” planned for Saturday night outside Bolsonaro’s residence –– something that the justices said could be used as a pretense to sow distraction.
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In turn, the justices claimed, the 70-year-old former president would be able to escape to the U.S. Embassy, which is roughly a 15-minute drive from his home. Bolsonaro is a staunch ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“(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,” Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been sanctioned by the Trump administration, said Saturday.
Bolsonaro was expected to start his prison sentence in the coming days, after his legal team had exhausted all appeals and attempts to keep their client out of jail.
Bolsonaro’s legal saga
Brazilian authorities indicted and arrested Bolsonaro in November 2024, on accusations that he knew about a plot to kill then-president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, while trying to overturn the country’s 2022 election. Bolsonaro was taken into custody along with 36 others.
Officials said Bolsonaro had “full knowledge” of a plan to prevent da Silva and his government from taking office. In October 2022, the center-left Lula narrowly beat Bolsonaro in the election. As a result, Bolsonaro’s supporters, also known as Bolsonaristas, rioted at government buildings.
The coup plotters also had a plan to assassinate Lula’s vice president, as well as de Moraes. Bolsonaro allegedly met with military officials and the minister of defense in December 2022 to present a legal plan to keep him in power.
Four of the five justices on Brazil’s Supreme Court subsequently convicted Bolsonaro in September. The court convicted him of five crimes: taking part in an armed criminal organization; attempting to violently abolish democracy; organizing a coup; and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.
Maintaining innocence
Bolsonaro has maintained his innocence. On Saturday, his former press adviser and lawyer, Fabio Wajngarten, challenged de Moraes’ claims about the ankle monitor.
“How could something that was broken, violated, be functioning normally nine hours later?” Wajngarten said. “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.”
Bolsonaro’s son, Brazilian Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, was planning a vigil for his father on Saturday. In a post on social media, he asked the country’s Bolsonaristas, “Are you going to fight for your country or are you going to watch everything on your mobile phone while sitting at home on your sofa?” He added, “come and fight with us.”
