Brazil’s Supreme Court has ruled that former President Jair Bolsonaro can continue to serve his 27-year prison sentence for a coup attempt under house arrest because of his ill health, but the decision will be reassessed in 90 days.
Bolsonaro was admitted to DF Star hospital on March 13 for bronchopneumonia, one of several health problems he has faced since a man stabbed him in 2018 before he was elected president. He was discharged from the intensive care unit on March 24.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said in a March 24 judgment summary that he would grant the former president house arrest on humanitarian grounds, starting from the date of his discharge.
Following his latest hospital stay, Bolsonaro’s defense team applied for humanitarian house arrest, arguing that the 71-year-old’s health requires continuous care and the ability for medics to respond immediately to possible complications—requirements that cannot be accommodated if he is incarcerated.
De Moraes said that given the nature of Bolsonaro’s condition, as outlined by hospital staff, “granting temporary humanitarian house arrest is the most reasonable course to ensure the detainee’s full recovery.”
A subsequent medical assessment in 90 days will determine whether the period of house arrest should be extended.
The Supreme Court outlined the terms of his house arrest, including the requirement that Bolsonaro serve the entirety of his sentence at his residential address and wear an ankle tag. He can also receive visits from his children, lawyers, and medical staff.
Temporary Decision Questioned
Lawyers for Bolsonaro have long sought permission for their client to serve his sentence under house arrest because of his ailments, but De Moraes had previously denied those requests.Paulo Cunha Bueno, one of Bolsonaro’s lawyers, said in a March 24 post on X that the court’s decision had restored “consistency in its case law, since ... it granted former President Collor de Mello the same relief, based, it should be noted, on a medical condition far less serious than the one now presented by President Bolsonaro.”
He said the decision’s temporary status was “particularly novel” given the former president’s health.
“It should not be overlooked that, unfortunately, the special conditions and needs President Bolsonaro requires are permanent, and this level of care will therefore be necessary for the rest of his life,” he said.
Bolsonaro’s son Flávio Bolsonaro also questioned the temporary nature of the house arrest.
After the ruling, he told reporters: “He is going home for his health to improve. And then in 90 days, if he improves, he goes back to the place where his health was getting worse?”
“There’s no sense in a temporary house imprisonment,“ Flávio Bolsonaro told reporters after the ruling. ”If he improves, he can go back to a battalion.”
Bolsonaro began serving his 27-year prison sentence in November, after being convicted of plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
He was also convicted of other crimes, including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.
