Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has commenced serving his 27-year prison term on Tuesday for spearheading a failed coup to retain power after losing the 2022 presidential election. This development, doubted by many in Brazil, was ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, leading to Bolsonaro’s confinement at Brazil’s Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia. His detention followed the removal of his ankle monitor using a soldering iron.
Bolsonaro, now isolated from other inmates, occupies a 12-square-metre room equipped with essential amenities like a bed, private bathroom, air conditioning, TV, and a desk, as disclosed by federal police sources. While Brazilian law allowed for his potential transfer to a local penitentiary or a prison cell within a military facility in Brasilia, the 70-year-old and his associates were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for plotting to subvert Brazil’s democratic system post the 2022 election defeat.
The thwarted conspiracy encompassed schemes to eliminate President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, and Justice de Moraes, alongside inciting an insurrection in early 2023. Bolsonaro faced charges of leading an armed criminal group and attempting to violently undermine the rule of law, all of which he consistently denied.
Despite his political ban until 2030 following a separate ruling by Brazil’s electoral court, Bolsonaro retains considerable influence in Brazilian politics, evident in polls indicating his competitiveness in a hypothetical candidacy if permitted to run. A staunch ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who denounced Bolsonaro’s trial as a “witch hunt,” the former Brazilian leader was implicated in a U.S. directive to hike tariffs on various Brazilian exports by 50%.
Preceding his recent detention, Bolsonaro was under house arrest in Brasilia for over 100 days on allegations of soliciting Trump’s intervention to impede legal proceedings against him. The bilateral relations have since improved, with Trump and Lula meeting at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia, leading to a reduction in elevated tariffs.
Bolsonaro’s imprisonment signifies a remarkable turn of events in Brazilian politics, with implications reverberating domestically and potentially impacting future electoral dynamics.
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