Khaberni - Most members of the panel of judges in the Brazilian Supreme Court voted today, Monday, to keep former President Jair Bolsonaro in police custody.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered on Saturday the detention of Bolsonaro, after more than 100 days of house arrest, indicating the possibility of his flight while the right-wing leader awaits the final appeals on his prison sentence for planning a coup.
Judges Flávio Dino and Cristiano Zanin joined Moraes today, Monday, in supporting the decision, forming a majority in the four-judge panel.
On Saturday, authorities in Brazil detained the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was under house arrest and sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to orchestrate a coup, according to his lawyer and a source close to the case, without clarifying the reasons.
His lawyer, Celso Villardi, told the French news agency AFP, "Bolsonaro was detained, but I don’t know the reason."
In turn, the Brazilian police stated in a statement that they executed a preventive arrest warrant issued by the Supreme Court, while a source close to the case reported that the person detained is Jair Bolsonaro.
Rejection of the appeal
The majority of judges on the panel in the Brazilian Supreme Court voted in favor of rejecting the appeal submitted by former President Jair Bolsonaro, objecting to his 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup to stay in power after the 2022 presidential elections.
Bolsonaro denies committing any crime and asserts that the sentence against him will not be executed until all stages of the appeal are exhausted.
Bolsonaro has been under house arrest for about three months for violating precautionary measures in another case, and his lawyers are expected to request that he be allowed to serve his sentence at home under similar circumstances due to health concerns.
In September, four of the five judges on the Supreme Court panel voted in favor of sentencing Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison, after convicting him of five charges, including joining an armed criminal organization and attempting to overthrow the democratic regime by force and orchestrating a coup.
Bolsonaro was placed under house arrest in early August for violating precautionary measures concerning his attempts to convince the U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene in the case. Trump described the case as a "political witch hunt," and responded by imposing high tariffs on Brazilian exports to the United States and sanctions on the judge overseeing the case, withdrawing visas from a number of Brazilian officials.
