Bolsonaro taken to detention facility for posing concrete flight risk
Bolsonaro admitted to tampering with his electronic ankle tracking device
De Moraes specified that this detention was preventive and not the execution of his final sentence
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was under house arrest serving a 27-year prison sentence for masterminding the Jan. 8, 2023, attempted coup d’état, was transferred Saturday to a detention facility after he tampered with his ankle tracking device. According to some local outlets, he had planned to seek asylum in an Argentine or US diplomatic mission.
Bolsonaro was taken into preventive custody to the Federal Police (PF) Superintendence headquarters following a ruling by Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes on a preemptive basis. The First Panel of the STF is scheduled to decide whether to uphold the preventive arrest on Monday. The retired Army captain’s legal team has until 11.59 pm on Monday to file a final appeal against his coup conviction with the STF.
Saturday’s preventive arrest was requested by the Federal Police, citing several factors, including a public call for vigils by the former president’s son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), and granted by De Moraes.
The PF argued that the senator’s call —which used biblical texts to urge a permanent mobilization for his father’s freedom— would cause mass gatherings in front of Bolsonaro’s residence, creating a security risk for both the former president and the public.
De Moraes’s decision cited the guarantee of public order with risk of agglomeration and for the prisoner himself. He argued that the vigil strategy was a repeat of the modus operandi of the coup plot, recalling past rallies outside military barracks.
Although the mobilization of demonstrators is disguised as a ‘vigil’ for the health of the defendant Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the conduct indicates the repetition of the modus operandi of the criminal organization led by the referred defendant, intending to use criminal popular manifestations to achieve personal advantage, De Moraes said in his rationale. He concluded that the planned gathering posed a risk by potentially complicating any future arrest warrant and creating an opportunity for the former president to flee.
Bolsonaro admitted that he attempted to tamper with his electronic ankle monitoring device using a hot iron late Friday afternoon out of curiosity. Security agents from the Federal District Penitentiary Administration Secretariat recorded images of the equipment showing clear and significant signs of damage. The device’s cover was reportedly destroyed, and the plastic coating appeared melted around the circumference where the case seals. The STF was briefed on the gadget’s state and immediately replaced. In addition, De Moraes demanded an urgent explanation from Bolsonaro’s lawyers regarding the electronic tool. Following the defense’s response, the case will be forwarded to Attorney General Paulo Gonet for a statement.
Bolsonaro remains in a 12-square-meter cell, with a private bathroom, television, air conditioning, a bed, a chair, a cabinet, a desk, and a minibar. He is scheduled for a custody hearing on Sunday. The accommodations are similar to the room where President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was detained at the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba.
Bolsonaro, 70, suffers from permanent sequelae from a 2018 stabbing, including chronic health issues that his lawyers cite as life-threatening. They had requested he serve his sentence at home for humanitarian reasons, citing a precedent of former President Fernando Collor de Mello. Given the circumstances, De Moraes has ordered that a doctor accompany Bolsonaro at all times.