Former Brazilian President and Trump Ally Begins Prison Sentence
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro must begin serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting an attempted coup, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled Tuesday. Bolsonaro’s legal team declined to file a final appeal after his conviction for orchestrating a 2022 effort to overturn the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Moraes subsequently asked that the conviction be deemed final, eliminating any remaining avenues for appeal and triggering enforcement of the sentence, CNN reported.
Bolsonaro has been held at the Federal Police headquarters since Saturday, when authorities arrested him for tampering with his court-ordered ankle monitor. Moraes said Tuesday that Bolsonaro will serve his sentence at the facility.
Despite the ruling, Bolsonaro’s attorney, Paulo Cunha Bueno, wrote on X that the former president would continue to pursue legal avenues to challenge the conviction.
On Saturday, Bolsonaro’s attorneys called his arrest “unjustifiable” and argued that his health is at risk in custody. Later that day, the Supreme Court released a video it says shows Bolsonaro admitting to using a soldering iron to tamper with his ankle monitor.
According to the court, Bolsonaro claimed he was not attempting to evade house arrest, but said he acted while experiencing hallucinations brought on by new medication.
The case stems from the period immediately after Bolsonaro lost his 2022 reelection campaign to Lula da Silva. Federal investigators say Bolsonaro and his allies quickly began outlining an illegal strategy to remain in power, culminating in the January 8, 2023 attack on government buildings in Brasília by his supporters.
After President Donald Trump — a political ally of Bolsonaro — returned to office in 2024, the case became a point of tension in U.S.–Brazil relations. In July, Trump imposed steep tariffs on select Brazilian exports and urged Brazil to abandon what he described as a “witch hunt” against the former president, CNN noted.
However, by the time Bolsonaro was taken into custody over the weekend, the White House had already granted tariff exceptions for several of Brazil’s largest exports. Asked about the arrest on Saturday, President Trump said he had not been informed of the development but called it “too bad.”
Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the U.S. has revoked the visas of de Moraes, several of his judicial allies, and their immediate family members in response to what he described as a “political witch hunt” targeting Bolsonaro.
“[President Trump] made clear that his administration will hold accountable foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,” said Rubio, who is also serving as President Trump’s national security adviser.
