BRASÍLIA — Former president Jair Bolsonaro was taken into preventive custody on Saturday, days before he was set to begin his 27-year prison sentence for attempting a military coup to stay in power after his 2022 election loss, a plot that included a plan to assassinate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the man who defeated him.
The 70-year-old former army officer has been under house arrest since August for violating a ban on using social media, and he was detained early on Saturday, after Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that a planned vigil outside his house could “cause serious harm to public order,” potentially preventing Bolsonaro’s arrest once his appeals are exhausted, or even enabling “the former president’s escape,” according to a copy of the ruling reviewed by The Post.
Brazil’s Federal Police said in a statement it carried out the arrest at the request of the Supreme Court.
Bolsonaro was taken to the Federal Police headquarters in the capital, where he will be held in a special cell prepared for him — equipped with a bed, a table and a private bathroom, a federal police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told The Post.
The arrest was carried out to “ensure public order” after a call for supporters to gather outside Bolsonaro’s residence in Brasília this weekend, the official added. Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro’s son, posted a video on Friday calling for the gathering, where he said, “I invite you to fight with us.”
Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist, was found guilty in September and became the first former president convicted of trying to undermine Latin America’s largest democracy. Brazil’s Supreme Court is still analyzing appeals against his conviction filed by his legal team.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers argued for him to remain under house arrest after the conviction, citing health problems caused by the stabbing he suffered during the 2018 presidential campaign. Bolsonaro has undergone six surgeries since then and frequently complains of persistent hiccups and vomiting.
His attorneys formally asked on Friday for what they called a “humanitarian house arrest.” Among the documents submitted to the Supreme Court were medical reports on skin cancer, gastritis, a lung infection and complications from the stabbing.
“It is essential to have adequate infrastructure for administering medication and conducting regular medical consultations and evaluations, including emergency care,” the attorneys wrote.
Under Brazilian law, anyone who is sentenced to more than eight years must serve time in prison. As a former head of state, however, Bolsonaro will be held in a special cell set up for him.
Saturday’s Supreme Court ruling, which was signed by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case against Bolsonaro, said that the arrest “must be carried out with full respect for the dignity of former president Jair Messias Bolsonaro, without the use of handcuffs and without any media exposure.”
The prosecution of Bolsonaro had sparked a diplomatic, and economic, response from the United States. Bolsonaro is a long-term ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and another one of his sons, federal congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, moved to the U.S. earlier this year seeking to persuade the White House to intervene and halt his father’s trial.
In July, Trump announced sanctions aimed at pressuring Brazil and individual Supreme Court justices to drop the charges against Bolsonaro.
Brazilian prosecutors allege that Eduardo Bolsonaro helped orchestrate the U.S. government sanctions — including tariffs on Brazilian goods, the suspension of visas for Brazilian officials and the application of the Magnitsky Act against Justice Moraes — in an effort to pressure Brazil’s Supreme Court justices to rule in his father’s favor. Eduardo is expected to stand trial before the Supreme Court in coming months.
People close to Bolsonaro say his emotional state has deteriorated sharply in recent weeks, describing him as shaken and deeply depressed. He has reportedly broken down in tears on several occasions. Allies say they fear for his mental health once he begins serving time in isolation, noting that regular contact with family, friends and supporters has been what keeps him functional.
In an interview with The Washington Post in May, Bolsonaro said that going to prison would be the end of his life.
Bolsonaro was already prohibited from running for office until 2030 for spreading false information to undermine the credibility of Brazil’s electoral system. He has argued that the ban disenfranchises the many Brazilians who want to vote for him and has argued for the ban to be overturned.
President Lula won the 2022 election by a narrow margin against Bolsonaro, and now recent polling shows the leftist leader leading all prospective rivals ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Since the former president’s conviction, the mood appears to have shifted — both in Brazil, and in the United States. Bolsonaro’s supporters have not staged major demonstrations in Brazil, Eduardo’s influence in the U.S. has waned and Trump recently exempted dozens of Brazilian food products, such as coffee and beef, from 40 percent tariffs. He has also stopped mentioning Bolsonaro publicly.
Trump had a phone call and an in-person meeting with Lula recently to discuss the sanctions and the tariffs imposed on Brazilian goods. During the meeting in Malaysia, Lula said Bolsonaro had not been unjustly convicted — the U.S. president had previously repeatedly claimed that the case was a “witch hunt” — and explained to Trump that his rival had attempted a coup and plotted to assassinate him.
According to two Brazilian diplomats involved in the ongoing negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, Trump did not answer directly to that but indicated that the U.S. government has “moved on from Bolsonaro” and is now open to talks based on trade interests rather than political ones.
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