Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday began his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, to the surprise of many within the South American nation who doubted he would ever find yourself behind bars.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has overseen the case, ruled Bolsonaro will remain in custody after being preemptively arrested on Saturday.
Supporters and detractors of the embattled leader have gathered outside the federal police headquarters because the order was issued, some calling for Bolsonaro’s release and others toasting to his imprisonment.
The far-right leader had been under house arrest since August and was taken in on Saturday after attempting to break his ankle monitor. Bolsonaro blamed “hallucinations,” a claim that de Moraes dismissed in his preemptive arrest order.
Bolsonaro won’t have any contact with the few other inmates on the federal police headquarters. His 12-square-meter room has a bed, a personal bathroom, air-con, a TV set and a desk, in line with federal police.
De Moraes determined on Tuesday that Bolsonaro’s defense had exhausted all appeals of his conviction. His lawyers disagree and promise to maintain filing requests for house arrest attributable to the previous leader’s poor health. The Supreme Court justice has already ruled against it.
“There isn’t any legal possibility of some other appeal,” de Moraes said in his decision.
Brazil’s criminal law also could have allowed the 70-year-old to be transferred to a neighborhood penitentiary or to a jail room in a military facility within the capital Brasilia.
The previous president and several other of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his 2022 election defeat.
The plot included plans to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Justice de Moraes. The plan also involved encouraging an riot in early 2023.
The previous president was also found guilty of charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.
Bolsonaro has all the time denied wrongdoing.
Outside the federal police constructing, a couple of dozen Bolsonaro supporters wearing yellow and green of the Brazilian flag cried foul and asked Congress to pass a bill to provide the previous president and his allies some sort of amnesty.
“I’m outraged. That is the most effective president of my life, my friend. That is an incredible injustice,” said Eliane Leandro, 61, a tough core Bolsonaro supporter who says she is going to come to the federal police headquarters daily until he’s released. “I hate you, Alexandre de Moraes. You deserve hell.”
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Sao Paulo city councilor Keit Lima, 34, had very different feelings. She brought champagne and shared it with other Black women who had come from a march in Brasilia to have a good time Bolsonaro’s imprisonment.
“Today we will breath and proceed fighting for our democracy,” Lima said. “Our democracy is young, but we wish it to live long.”
Two others convicted, Augusto Heleno and Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, each Army generals, were sent to a military facility in Brasilia to begin serving their sentences. Former Justice Minister Anderson Torres is now imprisoned on 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, one other army general, will remain in prison at a military facility in Rio de Janeiro.
De Moraes also confirmed that lawmaker and former head of Brazil’s intelligence agency Alexandre Ramagem is on the loose in america.
Bolsonaro stays a key figure in Brazilian politics, despite being ineligible to run for office until a minimum of until 2030 after a separate ruling by Brazil’s top electoral court. The primary day of his prison sentence should mark an extension of that deadline to 2033.
Polls show he can be a competitive candidate in next 12 months’s vote if allowed to run.
The previous president is an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has called the trial of the previous Brazilian leader a “witch hunt.” Bolsonaro was mentioned in a July order by the U.S. administration to lift tariffs on several Brazilian exports by 50%.
Relations between the 2 countries have improved since, with Lula and Trump meeting in Malaysia on the ASEAN summit in October. Most of those higher tariffs have been dropped.
The U.S. also imposed sanctions on de Moraes and other Brazilian officials.
The measures in support of Bolsonaro didn’t have their desired effect and the trial proceeded nevertheless. Lula’s popularity was boosted by the perception that he was defending Brazilian sovereignty.
Bolsonaro will not be the primary former president to spend time behind bars. His predecessor Michel Temer (2016-2018) and his successor Lula have also been to prison. Fernando Collor de Mello, who governed between 1990 and 1992, is currently under house arrest attributable to a corruption conviction.
Bolsonaro is the primary to be convicted of attempting a coup.
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