Brazil court jails ex-president Jair Bolsonaro over flight-risk fears — all you need to know

Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro, 70, who has been under house arrest since August 2025, was taken into custody on Saturday after a judge deemed him a flight risk.

The former president, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, was on trial over a botched coup bid. In August, he was placed under house arrest for violating measures imposed on him. In September, he was sentenced to 27 years in jail, following his conviction on charges that he attempted a coup to stop leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after his 2022 election defeat.

Bolsonaro was expected to begin serving his sentence sometime next week after he exhausted all appeals of his conviction for leading a coup attempt, the report cited local media.

Bolsonaro is an ally of US President Donald Trump, who has called his trial a 'witch hunt.'

In his ruling, ordering a pre-trial detention, the Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said that Bolsonaro’s ankle monitor, which he has worn since July 18 for being deemed a flight risk, was violated.

“That information shows the intent of the convict to break the ankle monitoring to assure his escape is successful, which would be made easier by the confusion that would be caused by a demonstration organized by his son,” the justice said.

According to the AP, his lawyers were pleading with Brazil's Supreme Court to keep him at home to serve his sentence, citing his poor health.

However, his lawyers have said they would file further appeals before a Monday deadline.

The preemptive arrest does not mean Bolsonaro will remain at the federal police headquarters to serve his sentence. Brazilian law requires that all convicts start their sentences in prison.

Lawyers cite Bolsonaro's health condition

In a petition to the Supreme Court, Bolsonaro lawyers said that sending the former president to prison ‘will have serious consequences and represents a risk to his life’, adding, "His health condition is already deeply debilitated."

According to AFP, the lawyers argued that Bolsonaro has already been hospitalised three times, since he was placed under house arrest — twice for tests and once due to a medical emergency. He also suffers from persistent 'uncontrollable hiccups.

They added that he required continuous treatment for pulmonary infections, esophagitis and gastritis, has skin cancer and suffered from sleep apnea that required him to sleep with a CPAP machine.