Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to begin his 27-year prison sentence for his failed coup he launched after losing re-election in 2022.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled that the right-wing politician had run out of appeals and would begin his sentence in a jail cell in the capital city of Brasilia, where he has been kept since Saturday over worries he would flee, the BBC reported. The ruling is a stunning development for Bolsonaro, who led Latin America’s largest nation and its first former president to be found guilty of trying to push its democracy back into a dictatorship.
Brazil’s highest court in September convicted Bolsonaro, 70, of the five counts related to the coup that involved a mob of his supporters storming government buildings following the election of rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2022.
Prosecutors charged Bolsonaro of engaging in a plot to violently subvert Brazil’s democracy that involved assassinating da Silva, The Washington Post reported. Bolsonaro denied the charges, but has not conceded the election.
Bolsonaro condemned the attack after the election, which he alleged in court was marred by irregularities. A court threw out the case and Bolsonaro traveled to the United States where he applied for a six-month visa.
President Donald Trump condemned Bolsonaro’s prosecution and imposed high tariffs on Brazilian imports, which were later dropped.
Bolsonaro’s argued unsuccessfully that the former president should be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest, citing a pulmonary infection and other health issues. But the court rejected the request because Bolsonaro had earlier tampered with his ankle monitor, reported The New York Times. Analysts expect Bolsonaro to eventually be released into home arrest, according to the paper. (UPI)
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