Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro begins 27-year prison sentence for coup attempt
BRASILIA Brazil AP Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro started on Tuesday to serve his -year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt designed to keep him in office after losing the presidential elections a move that several in the South American nation doubted would ever take place Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes who has overseen the matter ruled Bolsonaro will remain at the same federal police headquarters where he has been since he was preemptively arrested on Saturday for being considered a flight danger Bolsonaro will not have any contact with the scant other inmates at the federal police headquarters His -square-meter room has a bed a private bathroom air conditioning a TV set and a desk according to federal police Brazil s criminal law also could have allowed the -year-old to be transferred to a local penitentiary or to a prison room in a military facility in capital Brasilia The Supreme Court justice considered that Bolsonaro s defense had exhausted all appeals of his conviction on Monday His lawyers needed him to be on house arrest due to his poor wellness The embattled leader had been under house arrest since August when de Moraes first mentioned he could escape The far-right leader mentioned hallucinations had led him to break his ankle monitoring with a welder on Saturday a claim that de Moraes dismissed in his preemptive arrest order The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempted to overthrow Brazil s democracy following his voting defeat The plot included plans to kill President Luiz In cio Lula da Silva Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Justice de Moraes The plan also involved egging on an insurrection in early The former president was also exposed guilty of charges including leading an armed criminal organization and of attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law Bolsonaro has inevitably denied wrongdoing Two others convicted Augusto Heleno and Paulo S rgio Nogueira both Army generals were sent the military facility in Brasilia to start serving their sentences Former justice minister Anderson Torres is now imprisoned at the Papuda penitentiary also in Brazil s capital Adm Almir Garnier will serve his term at Navy facilities in Brasilia Bolsonaro s running mate and former Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto another army general will remain in prison at military facilities in Rio de Janeiro De Moraes also proven that lawmaker and former head of Brazil s intelligence agency Alexandre Ramagem is on the loose in the United States Bolsonaro remains a key figure in Brazilian politics despite being ineligible to run again at least until after a separate ruling by Brazil s top electoral court Polls show he would be a competitive candidate in next year s vote if allowed to run The former president is an ally of U S President Donald Trump who has called the trial of the former Brazilian leader a witch hunt Bolsonaro was mentioned in a July order by the U S administration to raise tariffs on several Brazilian exports by tariffs Relations between the two countries have improved since with Lula and Trump meeting in Malaysia at the ASEAN summit in October Majority of those higher tariffs have been dropped As well as the tariffs the U S also imposed sanctions on de Moraes and other Brazilian executives The measures in encouragement of Bolsonaro did not have their desired effect and the trial proceeded nevertheless Lula s popularity was boosted by the perception that he was defending Brazilian sovereignty Bolsonaro is not the first former president to spend time behind bars His predecessor Michel Temer - and his successor Lula have also been to prison Fernando Collor de Mello who governed between and is presently in house arrest due to a corruption conviction Bolsonaro is the first to be convicted of attempting a coup Source
