Jair Bolsonaro's defense team expressed their"deep perplexity" on Saturday at his preventive detention ordered by the Supreme Court, which they will appeal because they believe it"puts his life at risk," given the "delicate" state of health of the former Brazilian president.
Celso Vilardi and Paulo da Cunha Bueno, lawyers for the former president of Brazil, announced that they will file an appeal with the Supreme Court to try to overturn the preventive arrest of their client, who has been under house arrest since August 4.
“Despite claiming the ‘existence of very serious indications of a possible escape,’ the truth is that the former president was arrested at his home, with an electronic ankle monitor and under the surveillance of the police authorities,” the lawyers emphasized.
The former head of state, sentenced last September to 27 years in prison for attempted coup, was preventively detained on Saturday morning at his residence in Brasilia.
A team of agents escorted the former ruler to the headquarters of the Federal Police Superintendency of Brasilia, where he will remain in a private room until further notice.
The order was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the coup trial, who observed a “concrete risk of flight” and a “threat to public order”.
The magistrate refers to the possible riot that would have been generated by a vigil called by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, one of the sons of the former president, in front of his father's house this Saturday and which, according to the judge's theory, would have facilitated the escape of the ultra leader.
The lawyers criticized the fact that the pretrial detention was based in part on that “prayer vigil.” “The 1988 Constitution rightly guarantees the right of assembly to all, especially to ensure religious freedom,” they stated.
Likewise, the Supreme Court indicated that the former head of state attempted to break the electronic ankle monitor that was tracking his movements in order to escape during that demonstration: “The information confirms the intention of the convicted man to break the electronic ankle monitor to ensure the success of his escape, facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called by his son,” says the ruling of JudgeAlexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the process.
On September 11, Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison by the Supreme Court for “leading” a coup plot to “perpetuate himself in power”, after losing the 2022 elections to the current ruler, the progressive Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
However, Saturday's pretrial detention does not mark the beginning of the execution of the sentence, which was expected in the coming weeks, following the Supreme Court's rejection of the first appeals against the sentence.
Bolsonaro, 70, has been suffering from health problems for months, including bouts of hiccups, vomiting, and dizziness, disorders he attributes to the serious stabbing he suffered from a mentally ill man in 2018 during a presidential campaign rally that brought him to power.
