Brazilian court rejects new appeal against jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro

A judge at Brazil’s Supreme Court on Friday rejected a new appeal filed by jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro against his conviction on coup charges.

Bolsonaro, (70), began serving his 27-year prison sentence in November, after the country’s highest court declared he had exhausted all appeals.

However, his lawyers filed a challenge to the substance of the case three days after his imprisonment.

Bolsonaro’s previous and dismissed appeals had focused on the ambiguities, omissions and inconsistencies that he considered to have accompanied his trial.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s trial, said he did not recognize the new appeal, which requires two judges to vote against the conviction.

Only one of the five justices on the Supreme Court voted against Bolsonaro’s conviction.

The far-right politician, who served as president from 2019 to 2022, was convicted of leading a conspiracy after losing the election to prevent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office.

The conservative-majority Congress this week passed a law that could reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence to up to two years in prison.

Lula has vowed to veto the law, but Congress has the final say and has the right to override the president’s decision.

On Friday, in response to Bolsonaro’s lawyer’s request, the Supreme Court authorized his transfer to a hospital in Brasilia for surgery.

Earlier, police said in a statement that an official medical examination confirmed Bolsonaro had a hernia that requires elective surgery.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers also asked that he be allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest on health grounds, but Moraes rejected that request on Friday.