Brazil’s Supreme Court panel votes to maintain Bolsonaro in police custody | Jair Bolsonaro News | USAEMALL.com

A panel on the Brazilian Supreme Court has voted unanimously to keep former President Jair Bolsonaro in the custody of federal police after he admitted to tampering with his ankle monitor.

On Monday, the panel of four justices convened to weigh whether to continue Bolsonaro’s preventative detention, after he was taken into custody on Saturday.

The panel’s justices include Alexandre de Moraes, Cristiano Zanin, Carmen Lucia and Flavio Dino. Voting remains open until 8pm local time (23:00 GMT). A fifth member, Luiz Fux, has moved to a different panel, so his seat remains vacant.

In explaining Monday’s decision, de Moraes accused Bolsonaro of making “repeated” attempts to violate court orders and explained that the former president is a flight risk.

Bolsonaro has shown “patent disrespect for the justice system”, de Moraes said.

“There is no doubt, therefore, about the need to convert house arrest into pre-trial detention, due to the need to guarantee public order, ensure the application of criminal law and prevent disrespect for the precautionary measures already applied.”

Justice Dino also cited the possibility that Bolsonaro might flee the country to evade justice.

“The admitted breach of electronic monitoring not only increases the risk of escape but also indicates a blatant violation of the precautionary measures imposed by the Judiciary,” Dino wrote.

In September, the far-right Bolsonaro had been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for attempting to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election, which he lost.

He was found guilty on five counts. They included attempting a coup, participating in an armed criminal organisation, seeking the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, participating in damage qualified by violence, and the deterioration of listed heritage.

The same panel that voted for Bolsonaro’s conviction reconvened on Monday to determine whether he should stay in custody.

Only one of the panel’s five original justices, Fux, had voted against Bolsonaro’s conviction in September. Fux no longer remains on the panel, however.

Bolsonaro has denied seeking to foment a coup and has maintained his innocence. His defence team has framed the proceedings as an attempt to dampen his political popularity.

United States President Donald Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro, has called the case a “witch hunt” and has sought to intervene on the former president’s behalf, imposing steep tariffs on Brazil and sanctioning Justice de Moraes.

Previously, Bolsonaro had been held under house arrest at his residence in Brasilia, while his defence team sought to appeal.

In early November, the Supreme Court panel rejected Bolsonaro’s attempt to throw out his sentence. His lawyers have since asked the court to allow him to serve his 27-year sentence under house arrest, citing health problems stemming from a stabbing Bolsonaro survived on the campaign trail in 2018.

Justice de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to be taken to jail on Saturday, after the 70-year-old allegedly damaged his ankle monitor with a soldering tool.

Assistant Judge Luciana Sorrentino later relayed to the court that Bolsonaro reported having “hallucinations” and “paranoia” that led him to believe his ankle monitor contained “some wiretap”. The ex-president told the assistant judge he believed a change in medication might have brought on the symptoms.

Federal police have indicated that Bolsonaro may have considered fleeing the country in the past, given his mounting legal troubles.

In August, the police issued a report that documented some of Bolsonaro’s attempts. Officials, for instance, said they seized a 33-page letter addressed to the government of Argentinian President Javier Milei, a fellow right-wing leader, petitioning for asylum.

In the letter, dated February 2024, Bolsonaro explains that he has been “persecuted for reasons and crimes that are essentially political”.

Around the same time as the letter, Bolsonaro spent a couple of nights in the Hungarian embassy in Brasilia, raising further questions about whether he might be seeking diplomatic sanctuary.

One of Bolsonaro’s sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro, currently faces trial for obstruction, based on the allegation that he petitioned the Trump administration to illegally interfere in his father’s case.

Bolsonaro is currently being held in a federal police facility in Brasilia. His arrest ended more than 100 days of house arrest for the former president.