Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, in his first day in jail, informed a judge that he damaged his ankle monitor the previous day during house arrest due to a mental breakdown and hallucinations triggered by a change in his medication. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro’s preventive detention on Saturday, considering him a flight risk. Bolsonaro, aged 70, was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September for attempting a coup to stay in power after losing the 2022 election.
According to assistant judge Luciana Sorrentino, Bolsonaro claimed he experienced hallucinations about his ankle monitor being bugged, leading him to tamper with it. Bolsonaro mentioned that he could not recall experiencing such a severe breakdown before and speculated that it could be due to a recent medication alteration. He reiterated that he had no intention of escaping.
The document also revealed that Bolsonaro mentioned he had been struggling with sleep and feeling paranoid, which led him to investigate his ankle monitor out of curiosity. Bolsonaro stated that neither his daughter, elder brother, nor aide noticed his actions with the ankle monitor at his house.
De Moraes was informed that the far-right leader tampered with his ankle monitor at 12:08 a.m. on Saturday, leading to the subsequent arrest order. In September, a panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that Bolsonaro had attempted a coup to retain power after losing to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the 2022 election.
The same panel is set to vote on the preventive arrest order on Monday. Bolsonaro’s meeting with the assistant judge aimed to discuss the legality of his detention and allowed his lawyers to argue for house arrest based on his health concerns, a request previously denied by the judge. De Moraes granted permission for Bolsonaro to be visited by his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, who was away from Brasilia when he was taken into custody.
At the G20 summit in South Africa, Lula commented on Bolsonaro’s arrest, stating, “The court has made its decision, everyone knows what he did.” Outside the federal police headquarters, both supporters and critics of Bolsonaro expressed their sentiments, with some protesters calling for the removal of Lula and de Moraes from their positions.