Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro admitted to a judge on Sunday (November 23) that he had tampered with the electronic monitoring device on his ankle due to drug-induced paranoia and hallucinations, violating the house arrest rules, which led to his arrest ordered by the judge the previous day.
On Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the preventive detention of the 70-year-old former national leader because of the possibility of him fleeing. Bolsonaro is accused of attempting a coup to maintain the presidency after losing the 2022 election and was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September.
Documents released by the Brazilian Supreme Court on Sunday showed that Assistant Judge Luciana Sorrentino, after a video call with Bolsonaro, stated, “(Bolsonaro) said he had ‘hallucinations’ and believed there was a bug in the ankle monitoring device, so he tried to dismantle it.”
Sorrentino added that Bolsonaro told her he “did not remember having such a serious breakdown before” and speculated that it may have been due to a medication adjustment made last week. He once again denied any intention to flee.
The documents revealed that Bolsonaro also told the judge that he had poor sleep quality and felt “some kind of paranoia,” which sparked his curiosity to open the ankle monitoring device.
The documents stated, “(Bolsonaro) mentioned that at the time, only his daughter, brother, and an assistant were at home, and no one saw what he was doing to the ankle monitor. He said he started touching the device late at night and stopped around midnight.”
Judge de Moraes learned about the former president’s violation of the ankle monitoring rules at 12:08 a.m. on Saturday and issued the arrest warrant a few hours later.
Two doctors who came to support Bolsonaro on Sunday morning released a statement saying they had stopped using a drug that allegedly made the former president unwell and confirmed that his physical condition is good.
In September, a panel of the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that Bolsonaro had attempted a coup to maintain the presidency after losing to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the 2022 election.
On Monday, the panel will vote on the preventive arrest of Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro’s lawyers argue that his house arrest should be maintained based on his health condition. Similar requests have been previously rejected by de Moraes.
De Moraes approved a visit by former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro to see her husband. She was not present when the police arrested her husband and made no immediate statement to reporters after the visit.
Lula, at the G20 summit in South Africa, commented for the first time on Bolsonaro’s imprisonment, saying to reporters, “The court has made its decision, the matter is settled. Everyone knows what he has done.”
(Reference: Associated Press reporting)