Police Arrest Brazil Ex-President, Trump Ally Bolsonaro For Trying To Flee Country

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro was taken into custody early on Saturday after a Supreme Court judge ruled that he had attempted to escape from house arrest. His arrest came only days before he was expected to begin serving a 27-year jail sentence.

Bolsonaro, a close ally of former US President Donald Trump, was convicted in September for working with senior military leaders in 2022 to try to overturn his election defeat. Trump had called the case a “witch-hunt”, imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Brazil, and even sanctioned the Supreme Court judge overseeing the trial, causing a major diplomatic dispute between the two countries.

Despite the pressure, Brazil pushed ahead with the prosecution and convicted the 70-year-old former leader. The

US has since eased some of the tariffs as both nations resumed trade discussions.

Bolsonaro has suffered from health issues since he was stabbed in 2018 and had been under house arrest while pursuing his final appeals. Police arrived at his home in Brasília early on Saturday and took him to the federal police headquarters.

On Friday night, his son Flávio Bolsonaro, who is a senator, asked supporters to gather outside the family’s gated community. In a video on X, he invoked the “Lord of the Armies” and said people would pray for his father’s health and for “the return of democracy to our country”. He added, “We are going to ask God to apply his justice to those who persecute innocent people and help the real bandits to stay in power.”

Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said in a ruling on Saturday that the demonstration itself showed “there is no limit to the criminal organisation trying to cause chaos”. He added that security monitoring detected an attempt to remove Bolsonaro’s electronic ankle tag shortly after midnight. According to the court, this indicated “the convict’s intention to break the ankle tag to guarantee success in his escape, facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration”.

The court also released a video recorded by a security official in which Bolsonaro appeared to admit using a soldering iron on the device. The ruling noted that the US embassy was only 15 minutes away from Bolsonaro’s home and pointed out that he had previously tried to seek asylum in the Argentine embassy during the investigation.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers criticised the arrest, saying it caused “profound perplexity” because it was “based on a prayer vigil”. They argued that the former president’s health remained fragile. “In addition, Jair Bolsonaro’s state of health is delicate and his imprisonment could put his life at risk,” they said.

US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau also commented on X, saying the US was “gravely concerned” by what he called a new attack on the rule of law in Brazil, describing the arrest as “provocative and unnecessary”.

Bolsonaro’s former press aide, Fábio Wajngarten, rejected the court’s explanation, calling the ruling “unbelievable” and “shameful”. He claimed the ankle tag was functioning normally the next morning and said Bolsonaro had simply taken medication for a hiccup attack and gone to bed early.

Bolsonaro has denied all charges and had been expected to begin his sentence within days. His legal team continues to argue that he should be allowed to serve his sentence at home because of his medical condition.