•Jailed former Brazilian President (2019-2022) Jair Bolsonaro (C)
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice yesterday granted ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s request to temporarily serve his sentence under house arrest after he is discharged from a hospital where he is being treated for bronchopneumonia.
“I authorise temporary humanitarian house arrest… for an initial period of 90 days,” Justice Alexandre de Moraes said in a court document obtained by our correspondent, adding that this period may be renewed in case of medical necessity.
The 71-year-old former far-right president was sentenced to 27 years in prison last September for an attempted coup in 2022, reports AFP.
“Thank you, God!” his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, posted on Instagram shortly after the justice’s ruling was released.
Since mid-January, Bolsonaro had been serving his sentence at the Papuda penitentiary complex in Brasilia. On March 13, he was admitted to a private clinic in the capital after falling ill in his cell.
After more than a week in hospital, he was moved to a regular in-patient room on Monday.
According to the medical team, Bolsonaro’s infection is the result of a bronchial aspiration episode linked to effects of a stab wound to the abdomen that he sustained while campaigning for president in 2018.
While in prison he anointed his eldest son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as his pick to be a candidate for October’s presidential election.
With less than seven months to go, some opinion polls show a dead heat between the younger Bolsonaro and the leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth term.
