Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has started a 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt after losing the 2022 presidential election.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled on Tuesday that Bolsonaro will stay at the same federal police headquarters where he has been held since his preemptive arrest on Saturday for being considered a flight risk.
The justice considered that Bolsonaro’s defence team had exhausted all appeals of his conviction.
His lawyers wanted him to be on house arrest due to his poor health.
Jair Bolsonaro during house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil. Pic: Reuters
The 70-year-old won’t have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters.
His 12-square-metre room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a TV set and a desk, according to federal police.
Brazil’s criminal law also could have allowed him to be transferred to a local penitentiary or to a prison room in a military facility in the capital, Brasilia.
Bolsonaro had been under house arrest since August, after de Moraes first raised concerns that he might attempt to flee.
A still image from a video, which Brazilian officials say shows damage to the ankle monitor. Pic: Reuters
Bolsonaro claimed that “hallucinations” led to an attempt to tamper with his electronic ankle tag while working with a welder on Saturday, but de Moraes rejected this explanation in his preemptive arrest order.
The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a Supreme Court panel for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his defeat in the 2022 election.
The plot allegedly included plans to kill president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, vice president Geraldo Alckmin, and Justice Alexandre de Moraes, as well as to incite an insurrection in early 2023.
A supporter of Bolsonaro holds a Brazilian flag outside the federal police headquarters in Brasilia. Pic: AP
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Bolsonaro was also found guilty of leading an armed criminal organisation and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.
He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Bolsonaro, an ally of US President Donald Trump, remains a key figure in Brazilian politics, despite being ineligible to run for office until at least 2030 after a separate ruling by Brazil’s top electoral court.
Polls indicate he would be a competitive candidate if permitted to contest next year’s election.
Bolsonaro is not the first former president to serve time in prison. Both his predecessor, Michel Temer, and his successor, Lula, have also been to prison.
