Ministers Alexandre de Moraes and Flavio Dino, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), voted in favor of maintaining the preventive detention of former President Jair Bolsonaro in the trial that began on Monday by the court’s first body. The ministers are analyzing the decision taken by Moraes, on Saturday, when he ordered the arrest of the former president after an attempt to violate the electronic ankle bracelet he was wearing while under house arrest.
- public: Bolsonaro told STF at a hearing after his arrest that listening “hallucinations” and “paranoia” led to the attempt to break the ankle bracelet
- Electronic anklet: Learn about the cost of the device, how it works, and the alerts issued by the device
In his vote, Moraes stressed that “there is no doubt about the necessity of converting house arrest to pretrial detention, given the necessity of ensuring public order, ensuring the application of the criminal law and ignoring the previously applied precautionary measures.”
The minister noted that “Jair Messias Bolsonaro is adamant about his failure to comply with the various precautionary measures imposed.” He explained that in July, Bolsonaro failed to comply with the precautionary measure on the use of social networks. The following month, he used the networks again to participate in events carried out by his supporters. The minister indicated that the disregard for procedures continued, when last Friday he “deliberately and knowingly violated the electronic monitoring devices.”
Flavio Dino noted, after Moraes’ vote, that “the flight of federal deputies who commit similar and related crimes, using different devices, to other countries, indicates the environment contrary to public order in which the criminal organization headed by the convict operates.” In the most recent case, MP Alexander Ramajim, who was convicted in the same operation as the coup plot, fled the country and is in the United States.
The minister also referred to the vigil called by Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), which the Federal Police and Moraes highlighted as an element indicating a possible attempt to use Bolsonaro’s supporters “for the purpose of obstructing the supervision of precautionary measures” and facilitating a possible escape.
“Recent experience shows that groups gathered around the convict, who often behave in an uncontrollable manner, may repeat behavior similar to what happened on January 8. Therefore, there is a tangible risk that these individuals will attempt to enter the residential complex, violate private property, or go to nearby public buildings, with the possibility of repeating illicit acts that have already occurred on other occasions, including the use of bombs, weapons, etc.,” Dino stressed.
The first committee consists of five ministers, and they decide whether to maintain or review Moraes’ decision. The trial will be held in an extraordinary virtual session, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. In the virtual session, ministers enter their votes into the court’s system within the specified period.
As GLOBO has shown, the tendency is for the First Committee to uphold the Moraes decision. Minister Carmen Lucia and Ministers Cristiano Zanin and Flavio Dino are also part of the Board of Directors. The three voted in line with the decision.
When he ordered Bolsonaro’s arrest on Saturday morning, Moraes had already asked for the decision to be analyzed by other ministers. First team boss, Flavio Dino, responded to the request and scheduled the session.
Bolsonaro underwent a hearing last Sunday and the detention was maintained. In it, the judge analyzes whether there is ill-treatment, illegality or violence in the prison. The merits of detention have not been analysed.
Moraes ordered Bolsonaro’s arrest at the request of the Federal Police (PF), which claimed it was necessary to ensure public order. The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR) approved this measure. The former president was transferred to federal police surveillance in Brasilia.
The National Front said that the vigil called by Senator Flavio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), the son of the former president, in front of the residential building where Bolsonaro was serving house arrest could lead to “unrest” and “an environment conducive to his escape.”
Moraes said: “The content of the call for the aforementioned ‘protest’ indicates the possibility of an attempt to use supporters of the accused Jair Messias Bolsonaro, in a gathering that will be held in the place of his house arrest, for the purpose of obstructing the monitoring of precautionary measures and house arrest.”
The STF Minister also highlighted in his decision that Bolsonaro attempted to violate his electronic ankle bracelet, in the early hours of Saturday. The former president himself admitted this to the agents who went to his house to verify what happened.
The minister wrote, “The information confirms the convict’s intention to break the electronic ankle bracelet to ensure the success of his escape, which was facilitated by the confusion caused by the demonstration called for by his son.”
“A kind of paranoia” and “hallucinations”
At the hearing, Bolsonaro stated that he had experienced a type of “hallucination,” possibly related to medication, and said he had no intention of fleeing. The narrative that he was in a state of “mental confusion” was also the justification given by his lawyers, after Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF, demanded explanations about the violation of the electronic ankle bracelet. The defense took advantage of the former president’s medical condition to request a reconsideration of pretrial detention.
In the early hours of Saturday, when agents of the Secretariat of the Prison Department of the Federal District (Seap-DF) were at his home after warning that the ankle bracelet had been damaged, Bolsonaro admitted that he had used a soldering iron to try to get rid of the ankle bracelet. He added to STF that he did not receive any help from anyone in the initiative and that the three people who were in his house (his daughter, his brother, and his advisor) were asleep at the time.
The minutes of the session, which lasted about an hour on Sunday, stated: “The detainee stated that he was hallucinating that his ankle bracelet was defective, and then he tried to open the cover.”
Understand Bolsonaro’s arguments
- The former president said he acted under the influence of two drugs, which would have caused him “hallucinations” and “paranoia” due to a faulty electronic ankle bracelet. Without knowing which one, the former president said that he started taking one of the medications four days before the operation
- Bolsonaro used a soldering iron to try to separate the part of the device that indicates the location of the belt that connects it to the ankle. He stated that he knew how to use an iron because he had taken a course
- He said he could not remember another episode of “an outbreak of this kind.”
- His daughter, older brother and assistant were in the house at the time, but he said he did not receive any help from anyone.
- He denied that the operation was linked to an escape attempt