Former President Jair Bolsonaro asks to serve house arrest in Brazil
Lawyers for former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have asked Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to allow him to serve his 27-year sentence under house arrest, citing health concerns.
According to a document reviewed by the Reuters news agency on Friday, Bolsonaro’s lawyers said the 70-year-old former president’s recurring intestinal issues would make imprisonment life-threatening.
He had been stabbed in the stomach while campaigning in the state of Minas Gerais in 2018.
“It is certain that keeping the petitioner in a prison environment would pose a concrete and immediate risk to his physical integrity and even his life,” the document said. It asked for house arrest on humanitarian grounds.
In September, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison by a five-judge panel from Brazil’s Supreme Court. He was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The former right-wing leader has already been under house arrest for violating precautionary measures in a separate case, in which he allegedly courted United States interference to halt the criminal proceedings against him.
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Court sources said Bolsonaro’s arrest appeared imminent after the Supreme Court panel earlier this month unanimously rejected an appeal filed by the former president’s legal team.
His lawyers said they would file a new appeal, but they argued that, if it is also rejected, Bolsonaro should begin serving his sentence under house arrest once all appeals are exhausted.
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