Bolsonaro tells Brazil judge paranoia from medication made him tamper with ankle monitor
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Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has denied any intent to escape house arrest or attempt to remove the equipment.
PHOTO: AFP
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SAO PAULO/BRASILIA - Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Nov 23 told a judge that medicine-induced paranoia and hallucination caused him to tamper with an electronic ankle monitor
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro’s detention on Saturday, after more than 100 days of house arrest, citing potential flight risk as the right-wing leader awaits final appeals of his prison sentence for plotting a coup.
In a 30-minute custody hearing on Nov 23, Bolsonaro denied any intent to escape or try to remove the ankle monitor.
He attributed his behaviour to a mix of anti-convulsant drugs prescribed by different doctors for his chronic hiccups, which led him to imagine there was listening equipment inside the tracking device.
The 70-year-old former president said he was alone during the episode, as everyone present in the house – his daughter, his older brother and an adviser – were sleeping.
“The witness stated that, around midnight, he tampered with the ankle bracelet, then ‘came to his senses’ and stopped using the soldering iron, at which point he informed the officers guarding him,” according to the court document seen by Reuters.
The judge overseeing on Nov 23 hearing decided to keep Bolsonaro in police custody, concluding that the officers had followed all applicable laws during the arrest.
Bolsonaro lawyers seek move to ‘humanitarian house arrest’
Bolsonaro is being held in a 12 sq m cell at federal police headquarters in Brasilia, with a bed, TV, air conditioning and private bathroom. A panel of Supreme Court judges will convene on Nov 24 to consider his case.
His lawyers on Nov 23 repeated their request for the right-wing former army captain to be kept under “humanitarian house arrest”.
US President Donald Trump, who had called Bolsonaro’s trial a witch hunt and imposed an extra 40 per cent tariff on many Brazilian goods to counter it, began partially walking that policy back on Nov 20, with exemptions for imports of beef, coffee, cocoa and fruits.
On Nov 22, Mr Trump told reporters he had been unaware of Bolsonaro’s detention.
“Is that what happened? That’s too bad,” he said. He also said he would be meeting again soon with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s leftist successor.
State Department officials expressed concern about the treatment of Bolsonaro, calling it an attack on the rule of law and political stability.
Bolsonaro faces 27 years in prison for coup conviction
Bolsonaro was sentenced in September to 27 years and three months in prison
He was kept under house arrest for more than 100 days in Brasilia for violating precautionary measures in a separate case over allegedly courting US interference to halt the criminal case against him.
A still image taken from a video released by the Secretary of State for Penitentiary Administration shows what they say is the damaged ankle monitor of Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Bolsonaro’s lawyers have been hoping to convert his sentence into a long-term house arrest due to chronic health issues, part of a wider strategy to blunt the consequences of his conviction for attacking Brazil’s democracy.
The former president, who was stabbed in the abdomen during a 2018 campaign event, has a history of hospitalisations and surgeries related to the attack.
“What the case files and the events of the early hours of November 22 show is the extremely delicate state of the former president’s health, exactly as described in the medical reports and examinations already included in the files,” Bolsonaro’s lawyers wrote in a Nov 23 court filing.
They said events that night were caused by his “illogical behavior” due to an unfortunate combination of medication, age and stress, and that there was no risk of him fleeing.
Bolsonaro supporters see arrest as political persecution
The former president was visited on Nov 23 by his wife, Mrs Michelle Bolsonaro, who was on her way to a political event in north-east Brazil when he was arrested by police on Nov 22.
Supporters of the former president waved banners and flags outside the station where he is being held.
“(He’s) a person who hasn’t committed any crime. It’s simply a political persecution,” Mr Alessandro Almeida, a supporter, said.
Mr Lula defended the Supreme Court on Nov 23 in response to reporters’ questions while at the G-20 summit in Johannesburg.
“(The Supreme Court) made a decision. He was tried and had every right to the presumption of innocence,” the president told reporters. “He will serve the sentence that the court has determined, and everyone knows what he did.” REUTERS
