Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro begins 27-year prison sentence for plotting coup

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro to begin serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a failed coup after exhausting all appeals.

The former president, who has changed Brazil’s political landscape, will end his controversial career imprisoned in a small room at the police headquarters equipped with a TV, a mini fridge and air conditioning.

Bolsonaro, (70), was convicted in September of leading a criminal organization that conspired to ensure his authoritarian stay in power after his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the October 2022 presidential election.

Prosecutors said the only reason the scheme failed was that it didn’t receive the necessary support from senior military commanders.

The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal earlier this month and decided to uphold it on Tuesday, in a decision that isn’t appealable.

The Supreme Court ordered a military court to consider whether Bolsonaro, who was an army officer, should be stripped of his military rank.

Bolsonaro was under house arrest until Saturday, when he was detained at the police headquarters in the capital, Brasilia, for tampering with his surveillance device with a soldering iron.

Bolsonaro confirmed on Sunday that he had used a soldering iron on the electronic bracelet to monitor him in a moment of suspicion after spending months under house arrest.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro had deliberately and knowingly violated electronic surveillance equipment and burned his electronic wristband, citing indications of a possible escape attempt during a demonstration planned by his supporters last Saturday near his residence in the capital.

He pointed to the proximity of the US embassy to the site and the close relationship between Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump, suggesting that he could flee to seek political asylum.

Bolsonaro said on Saturday that he had tried to break the bracelet out of curiosity.

The court decided that Bolsonaro should remain held in the officers’ room, a safe space for protected prisoners, where he is currently being held in Brasilia.

Bolsonaro’s defense lawyer, Paulo Cunha Bueno, said the closure of the case was surprising given that an admissible appeal hasn’t yet been filed, adding that he would file it anyway.

His defense agents had requested that he be returned to probation on humanitarian grounds, arguing that he was in a state of mental confusion due to the use of medication.