A panel of four Supreme Court judges unanimously upheld on Monday a decision to incarcerate Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro, after he was arrested over the weekend when he tampered with his ankle monitor.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro’s detention on Saturday, citing fears he might try to escape custody if allowed to stay on house arrest, where he has been awaiting an appeal against his 27-year prison sentence for plotting a failed coup.
On Monday, Justices Flavio Dino, Cristiano Zanin and Carmen Lucia upheld de Moraes’ order.
Why did Bolsonaro get arrested?
On Saturday, Brazilian authorities said the former, far-right president took a soldering iron to his ankle monitor.
De Moraes ruled on Monday that Bolsonaro had “willfully and consciously violated the electronic monitoring equipment.”
The justice pointed at “very serious indications of a possible attempt to flee” during a vigil which Bolsonaro’s son organized on Saturday outside his home, near the US embassy.
De Moraes added that the location and Bolsonaro’s close ties to US President Donald Trump are further indicators that he may have tried to escape to the embassy to seek US asylum.
What did Bolsonaro say about tampering with the ankle monitor?
On Sunday, Bolsonaro told a hearing that he suffered medication-induced paranoia between Friday and Saturday, which was to blame for his tampering with the ankle monitor.
The former president said he “had no intention of fleeing.”
The French AFP news agency cited another testimony by Bolsonaro in a video made public by the court, in which he reportedly said he used the soldering iron on the bracelet out of “curiosity.”
Bolsonaro was convicted in September of plotting to overturn the 2022 election result that brought leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to office.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery
