Rio de Janeiro.- The Brazilian Supreme Court extended this Friday for an indefinite period the house arrest benefit that was granted three months ago to former president Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison for coup-mongering.
The decision was issued by magistrate Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur of the trial in which the far-right leader was convicted, who justified it on humanitarian grounds due to the fragility of the former president’s health (2019-2023).
The magistrate conditioned the benefit on Bolsonaro’s defense team handing over to the Federal Police within 48 hours ten weapons registered in the name of the far-right leader, including pistols, shotguns, and carbines.
Moraes, who granted a request from the defense, gave Bolsonaro the benefit of house arrest on April 24th for a period of 90 days to allow him to recover in ideal conditions from bronchopneumonia for which he was operated on at the time.
According to the ruling, the current clinical situation of Bolsonaro, 71, has worsened and he presents comorbidities, as stated in a medical report sent to the Supreme Court. It notes that “the home environment continues to be the most indicated for the preservation of his health and the full recovery from bronchopneumonia.”
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Moraes did not set a deadline for the benefit but clarified that it will be for the period that is “necessary for his full recovery”.
Deterioration in their health status
The magistrate clarified, however, that due to the more fragile conditions of the elderly’s immune system, the full recovery process from pneumonia in both lungs can extend between 45 and 90 days in a controlled environment.
Moraes also clarified that the Prosecutor’s Office did not consider that Bolsonaro had committed “a serious offense” by being in possession of a pistol that was seized from one of those responsible for his security.
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The ruling determines that, in addition to all the restrictive measures that had been imposed on him, Bolsonaro also lost the right to carry weapons and the registration certificates that allowed him to have different weapons in his home.
Before receiving the benefit of house arrest, Bolsonaro had been serving his sentence since the end of last November, first in a special room at the Federal Police Superintendency in Brasilia and, since January, in a penitentiary complex in the Brazilian capital, where he was given more space.
During his imprisonment, however, his health deteriorated, which forced him to visit the hospital several times.
The Army reserve captain has been suffering from various medical problems that he and those around him attribute to the stab wound he received in the abdomen during the 2018 election campaign.
Among those disorders are recurrent bouts of hiccups that lead to vomiting, which would be behind this latest bilateral aspiration pneumonia, according to the medical team.
