Jair Bolsonaro was recently detained after months under house arrest while appealing his 27-year sentence for plotting a coup
Jair Bolsonaro’s legal team claims that the former Brazilian president’s alleged tampering with his electronic ankle monitor, while under house arrest, was due to health issues and medication side effects.
Bolsonaro was recently taken into custody after being under house arrest for several months. The Supreme Court is scheduled to vote on Monday whether to uphold his pre-emptive detention.
In September, the 70-year-old was sentenced to 27 years in prison for allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing and is appealing the verdict. Earlier this month, Brazil’s highest court panel rejected his appeal of the prison sentence.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers stated that the ex-president “suffers from concomitant illnesses that require treatment” and is taking various medications, including those “affecting the central nervous system,” according to the Agencia Brasil public news agency, citing documents submitted to the Brazilian Supreme Court.
The lawyers specified that the combination of medicines currently taken by Bolsonaro are known for “side effects, including altered mental status with possible mental confusion, disorientation, impaired coordination, sedation, impaired balance, hallucinations, and cognitive impairment.”
The legal team has requested the court to reconsider the decision to move him from house arrest to detention.
Bolsonaro’s case originates from an alleged coup plot that prosecutors claim began in 2021 with efforts to undermine public confidence in Brazil’s electoral system. Following Bolsonaro’s defeat in 2022, his supporters were allegedly encouraged to mobilize in Brasilia, where they stormed and vandalized the three branches of government on January 8, 2023.
Former US President Donald Trump has described Bolsonaro’s prosecution as politically motivated and imposed significant 50% tariffs on Brazil. Earlier this month, Washington began to reduce some of these levies. The US has also sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who delivered the verdict, for what it called “serious human rights violations,” and has announced visa restrictions against him and other court officials.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has criticized what he views as pressure tactics from Washington, accusing the US of having “helped stage a coup” and promising that Brazil “will not forget it.”
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