STF unanimously keeps Bolsonaro detained: what to expect from a crucial week for the former president

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, the rapporteur of the case, considered that the appeal did not aim to solve the problems of the trial, but rather to challenge the merits of the conviction, and the other ministers voted with him.

With the ban rejected, a new deadline for the defense to appeal was opened again, which expires on Monday. The defense can then file dissenting blocking motions, which serve to cast doubt on decisions made without consensus.

But the Supreme Court is likely to reject this appeal without analyzing its content. The Court’s current case law stipulates that only decisions of bodies with at least two dissenting votes may be appealed for violating the prohibitions. In the case of Bolsonaro, the result was 4 votes to 1 to convict him.

Another avenue for Bolsonaro’s lawyers is to introduce new interpretive bans, so-called bans.

It is therefore up to Morais to assess whether these new prohibitions are new questions and therefore should be judged, or whether they have been introduced only in an attempt to postpone the beginning of serving the sentence, i.e. they delay.

This is when the operation is called final and execution of the statement must begin.

But Mauricio Dieter, a professor of criminology at the University of the South Pacific, explains that the punishment can begin to be implemented even before all the deadlines have expired. “Ministers can decide to implement the punishment immediately,” he says.

The former president’s defense calls for house arrest, citing his “sensitive health.” But in Saturday’s decision, Moraes did limit the availability of full-time medical care, which may be an indication that Bolsonaro will continue to serve his sentence where he already is, according to Dieter.

“I think it’s very likely that it will stay put,” he says.

Bolsonaro was detained in custody in Brasilia on Saturday, on orders from Moraes. The minister decided to cancel the pretrial detention in which the former president had been detained since the beginning of last August due to coercion during the procedures and obstruction of the investigation.

The action investigates the activities of licensed federal representative Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) in the United States to coordinate sanctions against Brazil and the Brazilian authorities. According to the lawsuit, Eduardo tried to influence his father’s trial on charges of a coup, one of the crimes for which he was sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison.

The arrest request was made on Saturday by the Federal Police after identifying a concrete and imminent escape risk.

According to Moraes’ decision, this risk was identified after Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) called for a “vigil” in support of his father near the former president’s residence, and an attempt was discovered to violate the ankle bracelet he was wearing.

The former president’s defense said in a statement that Moraes’ decision aroused “profound bewilderment, because, as the chronology of events shows, it is based on a prayer pause.”

“Moreover, Jair Bolsonaro’s health condition is delicate and his arrest could put his life in danger,” the memorandum said.

Moraes indicated in the arrest warrant that calling for a vigil for his son Flavio could generate crowds capable of impeding police surveillance and the enforcement of judicial rulings.

According to the decision, the call for the vigil was interpreted as part of a strategy to “harm compliance with potential legal measures” and “obstruct the application of criminal law” in the hours leading up to a potential final guilty verdict. In other words, when there are no more possible resources for the defense and the sentence must be implemented.

Moreover, according to the decision, the occurrence of a violation of the electronic ankle bracelet used by Bolsonaro reinforced the understanding that there was an imminent risk of evasion.

According to a document from the State Secretariat for the Administration of Prisons in the Federal District (SEAPE), the monitoring system issued an alert at 00:07 on Saturday, indicating a violation in the device.

The report notes that the equipment showed “clear and significant signs of damage,” with burn marks around its entire circumference, where the case was installed/sealed.

When questioned by police officers who went to the former president’s residence to check what happened, Bolsonaro confirmed that he used a soldering iron “out of curiosity.” Then the ankle bracelet was changed.

For Morais, the record “confirms the convict man’s intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure the success of his escape,” which was supposedly facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration.

During a hearing on Sunday, Bolsonaro said he tried to unlock his electronic ankle bracelet after suffering an episode of “paranoia” and “hallucinations” due to the combined use of medications.

The former president reported that he was taking pregabalin – a medication intended to treat chronic pain and neurogenic pain – and sertraline – an antidepressant intended to treat depression and anxiety disorders.

According to Bolsonaro, combining these drugs would have caused side effects. He stated that he believed the electronic ankle bracelet could contain a secret eavesdropping device, which would have been the motivation for his attempt to tamper with the device.

The court transcript describes that Bolsonaro declared that he “acted out of fear and a sense of persecution resulting from the concomitant use of medications.”

Bolsonaro admitted that he used a soldering iron during the early hours of the morning to try to break the ankle bracelet, but stated that he stopped the procedure on his own and subsequently reported the incident to agents responsible for surveillance.

Hours later, the former president’s lawyers, who had been questioned by Moraes over the equipment violation, sent a document reaffirming that Bolsonaro was suffering from “mental confusion possibly caused by improper interaction between various medications.”

The defense denied any intention to escape and requested that the request for preventive detention be reconsidered and that Bolsonaro be returned to house arrest.

The STF considered Bolsonaro the leader of a criminal organization, with the army, police and allies, that worked to prevent the transition of power after the 2022 elections, won by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT).

The former president was found guilty of five crimes: armed criminal organization, attempt to abolish the democratic rule of law by violence, coup d’état, qualified damage by violence, serious threat and deterioration of listed property.

In addition to Bolsonaro, the seven other defendants in the criminal case were also convicted: Alexandre Ramajem, Almir Garnier, Anderson Torres, Augusto Heleno, Mauro Cid, Paulo Sergio Nogueira, and Walter Braga Neto.

According to the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Jeunet, the criminal organization has moved on several fronts since 2021 to try to implement the rupture plan, from public speeches to discredit the electoral system to supposed pressure on the top command of the armed forces to support a coup-style decree – the so-called “coup project.”

Jeunet also cited in the complaint motions an attempt to disrupt the conduct of the elections, citing the blockades imposed by the Federal Highway Police (PRF) on election day in 2022, especially in areas where there were voters supportive of Lula’s opponent.

The PGR also highlighted the January 8, 2023 attacks as the final act of the coup attempt.

At the end of the trial, the STF considered that there was sufficient evidence for the PGR charges and convicted the defendants.