Bolsonaro to remain in custody over flight-risk concerns

Bolsonaro to remain in custody over flight-risk concerns
Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro outside the Brazilian Federal Police Regional Headquarters, Brasilia, Brazil, 22 November, 2025
Reuters

Former President Jair Bolsonaro was ordered to remain in police custody after Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld a detention ruling citing him as a flight risk.

The four-judge panel — Justices Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin, Cármen Lúcia and Alexandre de Moraes — confirmed Moraes’ original order, which ended more than 100 days of Bolsonaro’s house arrest as he awaits final appeals against his 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup.

Bolsonaro, 70, was detained on Saturday after authorities said he used a soldering iron on his electronic ankle monitor, only hours before supporters planned a vigil outside his home — an event Moraes warned could interfere with police surveillance.

At a custody hearing on Sunday, Bolsonaro claimed the tampering was the result of medication-induced paranoia and hallucinations, insisting he had no intention of escaping or removing the device.

Justice Dino, in his vote, said the breach of monitoring conditions “increases the risk of escape” and represents a clear violation of judicial precautionary measures.

Bolsonaro was sentenced in September to 27 years and three months in prison for attempting to overturn the 2022 election won by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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