Understand why Moraes kept Bolsonaro in the Federal Police instead of Papuda prison.
2:00 BRASILIA – Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled on Tuesday, the 25th, that former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) remain at the Federal Police headquarters in Brasilia. He has been held there since Saturday, the 22nd. He will now serve his 27-year and three-month sentence for the coup plot.
In the decision that determined Bolsonaro should remain in the General Staff room at the Federal Police headquarters, Moraes also ordered"official medical examinations for the commencement of the sentence, including the clinical observations essential for adequate prison treatment."
Transferring Bolsonaro to Papuda Penitentiary now would provoke a popular and political uproar that the Supreme Court is trying to avoid. Faced with the inevitable institutional trauma of imprisoning a former president convicted of attempted coup, the order within the Court is that this be done as discreetly as possible.
The premise worked when Moraes ordered Bolsonaro's preventive detention on Saturday. The agents did not release images of the former president being taken to the Federal Police jail, demonstrating that the institution is following the same recommendation of trying to keep the situation low.
On Monday, the 24th, the film on the door where the former president was spotted by photographers was replaced, with the intention of preserving the defendant's image as much as possible.
One of the objectives is to highlight the difference in the style of the current leadership of the Federal Police compared to the time of Lava Jato. When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was arrested in 2018, there was a crowd of Lula's supporters at the location, which highlighted the political divergence behind the measure imposed by then-judge Sérgio Moro.
The commitment to discretion regarding Bolsonaro's arrest doesn't come solely from the Supreme Court and the Federal Police. On the 17th, the Army commander, Tomás Paiva, asked Moraes that the military personnel convicted for the coup plot not be handcuffed at the time of their arrest. The conversation took place at the general's residence in Brasília. The Minister of Defense, José Múcio, was also present.
Among the military officers convicted by the Supreme Federal Court are General Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, who commanded the Army and was Minister of Defense, and Augusto Heleno, who headed the Institutional Security Office (GSI). Both served in Bolsonaro's administration and will serve their sentences in a military unit.
Moraes' strategy has been one of gradualism. First, he imposed prohibitions on Bolsonaro. Faced with the non-compliance with the order to stay away from social media, the minister ordered house arrest. With a new scenario of demonstrations called for near the former president's residence and an attempt to violate the electronic ankle monitor, Moraes ordered preventive detention.
Within this logic, keeping Bolsonaro in the Federal Police jail makes sense. However, depending on new developments, the former president could be taken to Papuda prison. What is out of the question now is his return to house arrest, since that location was the scene of the attempted breach of security equipment – which the Supreme Court interpreted as a flight risk.
