The Supreme Court of Brazil announced today that the criminal case against former President Jair Bolsonaro has become final, understanding that there is no reason for further appeals.
With the process concluded, it now remains to define the location where Bolsonaro will be detained.
Jair Bolsonaro, who has been in pre-trial detention since Saturday, was sentenced, on September 11, to 27 years and 3 months in prison for armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état, qualified damage due to violence and serious threat and deterioration of listed heritage.
In addition to Bolsonaro, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) also ordered the end of the process of former Justice Minister Anderson Torres and former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) Alexandre Ramagem (at large in the United States), as none of the three presented the appeals called embargoes for clarification, the deadline for which ended on Monday.
Jair Bolsonaro is currently superintending the Federal Police, in Brasília, but, with the process now complete, the former President may be sent to the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, a maximum security region where four prisons have been built.
However, Bolsonaro’s defense has called for the former President to serve his sentence under house arrest, or even under the supervision of the Federal Police, due to his state of health.
Experts interviewed by the local press consider that the possibility of Bolsonaro being able to serve his prison sentence at home has become slim, after, on Saturday night, he tried to break his electronic bracelet with a welder.
Until Friday, Bolsonaro’s lawyers requested that he be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest, where he was found to have failed to comply with some of the precautionary measures imposed by judge Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the case, due to the risk of escape.
Among these measures, the judge ordered the permanent use of an electronic bracelet. However, on Saturday, the former President tried to burn it with a welder.
First, Bolsonaro said in a video that he did it out of “curiosity” and, the next day, at the custody hearing, he stated that the episode occurred due to a moment of “paranoia” and “hallucinations” caused by the mixture of medications, guaranteeing that, at no point, did he intend to escape.
The situation coincided with a vigil organized by his son Flávio Bolsonaro on Saturday, in front of the former President’s residence, which is why the judge ordered preventive detention, which this Monday was confirmed by a panel of STF judges.