Brazil’s ex-president Bolsonaro arrested to prevent ‘attempted escape,’ court says

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was arrested on Saturday by police to prevent a possible “attempted escape,” according to Brazil’s Supreme Court, days before he was due to begin a prison sentence for leading a coup attempt.

Bolsonaro was arrested at his home in Brasília and taken into police custody. In a statement, Federal Police said it executed a preventive arrest warrant that had been requested by the police themselves and authorized by the Supreme Court, CNN affiliate CNN Brasil reported.

Sources told CNN Brasil that a vigil organized by Bolsonaro’s oldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, in front of the complex of residential buildings where the former president lives triggered the request for preventive detention.

Bolsonaro’s lawyers vowed to appeal the arrest and dismissed the claim that the former president was attempting to escape.

Flávio Bolsonaro described the vigil, initially planned for Saturday evening local time, as an opportunity to pray for his father following recent reports of ill health and “for the return of democracy in our country.”

“Are you going to fight for your country or just watch everything on your phone on your couch at home?” he asked his followers in a social media video.

Brazil’s Supreme Court said on Saturday that it had received information about the “summoning of supporters” to the vigil which indicated a “high possibility of an attempted escape.”

The gathering could “reach a large scale” and last for several says, resulting in “unpredictable effects, developments, and consequences,” the court said.

In addition, the court said it had been informed that there was a violation of Bolsonaro’s electronic monitoring equipment in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“The information confirms the convict’s intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet in order to ensure the success of his escape, facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration,” the court said.

Video from CNN affiliate CNN Brasil shows a convoy transporting Bolsonaro after he was arrested by federal police. CNN Brasil

Flávio Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a CNN Brasil request for comment. In a statement, Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers pushed back against the claim that he was attempting to escape, according to CNN Brasil.

“The fact is that the former President was arrested at his home, with an electronic ankle monitor and under police surveillance,” his lawyers said in a statement. “Furthermore, Jair Bolsonaro’s health is delicate and his imprisonment may put his life at risk.”

The lawyers added that the right to assembly is protected in law, referring to the planned vigil.

Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced earlier this year to 27 years in prison for plotting to remain in power after losing the 2022 election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and has been under house arrest.

Four out of five justices on a Brazilian Supreme Court panel voted to convict Bolsonaro on all five counts in the landmark case.

As well as plotting a coup d’état, Bolsonaro was convicted of taking part in an armed criminal organization, attempting to abolish Brazil’s democratic order by force, committing violent acts against state institutions and damaging protected public property during the storming of government buildings by his supporters on January 8, 2023.

Bolsonaro has long insisted that the trial amounted to a political witch hunt.

Earlier this month, high-ranking military officials and a federal police officer were also sentenced to prison terms after a panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices found them guilty of attempting a coup and plotting to kill Lula da Silva.

On Saturday, reporters asked US President Donald Trump if he had heard of Bolsonaro’s arrest. Trump, a Bolsonaro ally who raised tariffs on Brazil to 50% as punishment for the former president’s trial, said that he had not heard, but that it was “too bad.”

Trump recently backtracked and carved out tariff exceptions for some of Brazil’s biggest exports, namely coffee and beef.

CNN’s Julia Vargas Jones and Michael Rios contributed reporting.

This story has been updated with additional details.