Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was detained by federal police in Brasilia on Saturday, ending more than three months of house arrest while he continues to appeal a Supreme Court conviction linked to efforts to overturn the 2022 election result. His lawyer confirmed the detention.
The move adds fresh tension to a political and legal saga that has dominated Brazil’s national debate since Bolsonaro left office. It also places new attention on his appeal process, which has not yet exhausted all available stages, meaning the final arrest order in his coup plot case has not been issued.
A source familiar with the situation said authorities detained Bolsonaro as a preventative step tied to the strict conditions of his house arrest. Police officials said he was undergoing routine intake exams on Saturday morning.
Bolsonaro received a sentence of twenty seven years and three months in September after judges found that he led a coordinated attempt to prevent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office following his narrow election victory. According to case documents reviewed by Reuters and AP, investigators concluded that Bolsonaro was the main beneficiary of a plan to block the transition of power at the start of 2023.
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The conviction remains under appeal before the Supreme Court. Until those challenges are completed, judges have held off on issuing the definitive order that would transfer him from house arrest to a full prison term.
For more than one hundred days, Bolsonaro lived under tight restrictions in a separate case involving his alleged attempt to seek help from the United States to halt criminal proceedings against him. Those rules barred him from social media platforms and restricted his communications, although political allies visited him regularly.
Unnited States President Donald Trump, who maintained a friendly relationship with Bolsonaro while both held office, described the proceedings as a “witch hunt”. Reports from Reuters say Trump had imposed sanctions on Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the case, along with a fifty percent tariff on several Brazilian exports. Trump began easing those tariffs earlier this month.
Celso Vilardi, Bolsonaro’s attorney, said he would seek permission for the former president to continue serving his sentence at home, citing ongoing health concerns. Bolsonaro has undergone repeated hospital treatment since a stabbing during his 2018 campaign left long term abdominal injuries.
Bolsonaro is already barred from running for office until 2030 after Brazil’s electoral court found he misused state resources during his 2022 campaign. That ruling has reshaped the country’s right wing political landscape and left supporters waiting to see whether he will face prison time once all appeals conclude.
