Brazil’s Former President Bolsonaro Begins 27-Year Prison Sentence Following Coup Conviction

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has begun serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted of an attempted coup.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen the case, ruled the 70-year-old must remain in custody rather than being moved back to house arrest after he allegedly attempted to break his ankle monitor on Saturday.

Bolsonaro said he was suffering from “hallucinations” brought on by prescription medication, but Moraes dismissed the claim.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by Brazil’s Supreme Court in September for attempting to overthrow the country’s democracy following his 2022 election defeat.

They were found guilty of planning to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and de Moraes and encouraging an insurrection in early 2023.

Bolsonaro was also convicted of charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

House Arrest for Trump-Related Charge

Bolsonaro faced separate charges of soliciting the interference of U.S. President Donald Trump, for which he was under house arrest.

Bolsonaro, a former military officer and a social conservative, has always denied wrongdoing.

In September, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the trial of the former Brazilian leader a “witch hunt.” Trump has drawn parallels to his own legal battles.

The day after a letter sent by Trump to Bolsonaro in July was made public, the Brazilian Supreme Court responded with warrants and restraining orders banning Bolsonaro from contacting foreign officials concerning the charges.

Bolsonaro was mentioned by the U.S. government in a July order to raise tariffs on several Brazilian exports by 50 percent, although most of these higher tariffs have since been dropped.

Supporters and detractors of Bolsonaro gathered outside the federal police headquarters after the order for his imprisonment was issued, some calling for his release and others celebrating his imprisonment.

Bolsonaro will be kept in solitary confinement with no contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters, in a 12-square-meter room with a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a TV set, and a desk, according to federal police.

He will be granted free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors will have their orders approved by the Supreme Court.

‘Disney Coup’

Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a congressman, wrote on X: “Without the slightest potential to be a coup d’état, what history will record as the Disney coup is far from over.

“Because it was a political trial, it will prompt the political landscape to change and correct this Alexandrian absurdity. Mark my words.”

Another of Bolsonaro’s sons, Carlos, after visiting his father in prison on Tuesday, said his father “is emotionally destroyed.”

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on Saturday that Washington is “gravely concerned” by Moraes’s “latest attack on the rule of law and political stability in Brazil.”

“There is nothing more dangerous to democracy than a judge who knows no limits on his power,” Landau wrote on X.

De Moraes ruled on Tuesday that Bolsonaro’s lawyers had exhausted all possible avenues of appeal, although his team has vowed to keep filing requests for house arrest due to the former leader’s poor health.

The Brazilian legal system could have allowed him to serve his sentence in the local penitentiary or transferred him to a prison room in a military facility in the capital, Brasilia.

Around a dozen Bolsonaro supporters gathered outside the federal police building dressed in yellow and green of the Brazilian flag and asked Congress to pass a bill to give the former president and his allies some kind of amnesty, while a few asked for help from Trump, who has expressed his support for the former leader.

Two Army generals convicted alongside Bolsonaro, Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, were sent to a military facility in Brasilia to begin their sentences. Former Justice Minister Anderson Torres is now imprisoned at the Papuda penitentiary, also in Brazil’s capital.

Another two Army generals, Almir Garnier and Bolsonaro’s running mate and former Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, are serving their sentences in military facilities.

The judge confirmed that lawmaker and former head of Brazil’s intelligence agency Alexandre Ramagem is at large in the United States after fleeing there.

The judge ordered lower house speaker Hugo Motta to strip Ramagem of his seat.

Motta has the power to put a possible amnesty for Bolsonaro to a vote, though party leaders say this is highly unlikely because the Supreme Court would have the power to strike it down, if approved.

Popular in the Polls

Bolsonaro remains a significant figure in Brazilian politics, with polls showing he would be a competitive candidate in next year’s election if allowed to run.

However, because of the convictions against him, he is ineligible to run for office until at least 2030, following a separate ruling by the country’s highest electoral court. His first day in prison should mark an extension of that deadline to 2033.

Bolsonaro is the first Brazilian president to be convicted of attempting a coup, but he is not the first former leader to be incarcerated.

His predecessor Michel Temer and his successor Lula have also served time in prison, while Fernando Collor de Mello, who governed between 1990 and 1992, is currently under house arrest due to a corruption conviction.

AP and Reuters contributed to this report.