{"id":36043,"date":"2025-11-23T13:08:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=36043"},"modified":"2025-11-23T13:08:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T07:23:32","slug":"brazils-bolsonaro-detained-for-trying-to-break-ankle-bracelet-and-flee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/brazils-bolsonaro-detained-for-trying-to-break-ankle-bracelet-and-flee\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil’s Bolsonaro detained for trying to break ankle bracelet and flee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro — under house arrest while he appeals a conviction for a foiled coup attempt — was taken into custody Saturday after the Supreme Court deemed him a high flight risk.<\/p>\n

The court said the far-right firebrand — who was sentenced to 27 years in prison over a scheme to stop leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 elections — had attempted to disable his ankle monitor in order to flee.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said Bolsonaro’s detention was a preventive measure as final appeals play out.<\/p>\n

In a video made public by the court, Bolsonaro admitted that he had used a soldering iron on the monitoring bracelet out of “curiosity.” The video showed the device badly damaged and burned, but still on his ankle.<\/p>\n

The 70-year-old Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, was placed under house arrest in August and has been confined to an upscale condominium in the capital Brasilia.<\/p>\n

Moraes said in his ruling that a planned vigil outside the condominium called by the former leader’s eldest son Flavio Bolsonaro on Saturday could cause turmoil that would “create an environment conducive to his escape.”<\/p>\n

Flavio had urged Bolsonaro supporters to “fight for your country.”<\/p>\n

The judge said the attempted disabling of the ankle monitor occurred early Saturday as part of a plan to “ensure the success of his escape, facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son.”<\/p>\n

Moraes gave Bolsonaro’s attorneys 24 hours to explain the incident.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know what’s going on inside the Federal Police now. If something happens to my father, Alexandre de Moraes, if my father dies in there, it’s your fault,” Flavio said in a live video broadcast.<\/p>\n

He told reporters ahead of the vigil that his father could have burned the ankle monitor as a “act of desperation” or out of “shame” for having to wear it in front of visiting relatives.<\/p>\n

Moraes highlighted the proximity of Bolsonaro’s home to the US embassy, raising the risk of him seeking political asylum.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, is an ally of US President Donald Trump, who has called the trial a “witch hunt” and imposed punitive tariffs and sanctions against Brazil over it.<\/p>\n

Trump said Saturday of Bolsonaro’s latest situation: “That’s too bad.”<\/p>\n

– Celebrations and anger –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bolsonaro has been taken to a federal police complex in Brasilia where prisoners undergo medical examinations before being sent to jail, according to a source close to the case.<\/p>\n

Another source sent a video to AFP showing the small room where Bolsonaro will be held for now, with a television, air conditioning and a mini-fridge.<\/p>\n

A group of women gathered outside the police headquarters and uncorked a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate Bolsonaro’s imprisonment.<\/p>\n

Ana Denise Sousa, 47, a high school philosophy teacher, told AFP she was overjoyed.<\/p>\n

“The biggest scoundrel, the worst guy…who screwed everyone over, who (attempted) a coup, who never felt pity for anyone — and now he’s going to pay,” she said.<\/p>\n

Supporters also arrived at the scene, draped in Brazil’s green and yellow flag.<\/p>\n

“This is all political persecution,” said Alessandro Goncalves de Almeida, a 53-year-old rideshare driver.<\/p>\n

– Time running out –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bolsonaro’s legal woes have left Brazil’s large conservative electorate without a champion heading into 2026 presidential elections, in which Lula, 80, has said he will seek a fourth term.<\/p>\n

His defense team said they would appeal the detention which “could put his life at risk” due to his alleged frail health.<\/p>\n

Bolsonaro suffers ongoing consequences of a stab wound to the abdomen during a 2018 campaign trail attack and has required several follow-up surgeries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro — under house arrest while he appeals a conviction for a foiled coup attempt — was taken into custody Saturday after the Supreme Court deemed him a high flight risk. The court said the far-right firebrand — who was sentenced to 27 years in prison over a scheme to stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36043"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36045,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36043\/revisions\/36045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}