 "Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Reuters")
Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro was taken into custody on Saturday and moved to police headquarters in Brasília, two months after the Supreme Court convicted him of attempting a coup following his 2022 election defeat.
Bolsonaro was sentenced in September to 27 years and three months in prison for the botched coup attempt. However, his spokesman, Fabio Wajngarten, said Saturday’s detention was not related to enforcing that sentence but was instead a precautionary measure.
Bolsonaro, who had been under house arrest since August, was transferred to detention over the weekend, his lawyer confirmed.
“He has been imprisoned, but I don’t know why,” his lawyer Celso Vilardi told AFP.
The 70-year-old’s legal team has argued he should be permitted to serve his sentence at home, claiming that holding him in a regular facility would pose risks to his health.
Preventive arrest warrant executed
Federal police said in a brief statement that officers had carried out a preventive arrest warrant issued by the Supreme Court. Brazilian media reported that Bolsonaro was taken to a federal police base roughly seven miles from the presidential palace he occupied from 2019 to 2022, before losing the election and attempting to trigger a military coup.
Authorities have yet to clarify why the court ordered the former president’s preventive detention, with local reports suggesting it was intended to “maintain public order”.
Vilardi reiterated to AFP, “He has been imprisoned, but I don’t know why.”
Despite his September sentence for orchestrating a plot to block Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office, Bolsonaro has not yet begun serving his term as legal challenges and appeals proceed. Saturday’s detention is reportedly not directly linked to that conviction.
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Supporters of the former president had planned a nighttime vigil outside the luxury condominium where he had been under house arrest since August. The protest was called by his senator son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who urged followers in a social media video: “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? Come and fight with us.”
Speculation over Bolsonaro’s arrest had intensified in recent days, with allies voicing outrage at the possibility that he might be sent to Papuda, a maximum-security prison in Brasília.
Lula allies hail the move
Backers of President Lula welcomed the former president’s detention.
“The message to Brazil, and to the world, is that crime doesn’t pay,” said Workers’ Party MP Reimont Otoni, noting that Bolsonaro’s coup plot allegedly included a plan to assassinate Lula.