Brazil’s Bolsonaro to start serving 27-year prison sentence for coup plot

Country’s top court formally concludes former president’s trial after ankle monitor tampering incident; his son, a candidate in next year’s election, vows to push for pardon

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered former president Jair Bolsonaro to start serving his prison sentence of more than 27 years for a coup-plot conviction, according to a court document.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro to start serving his sentence in the headquarters of Brazil’s Federal Police in Brasilia, where he has been detained since Saturday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the country’s top court formally concluded Bolsonaro’s coup-plotting case, making his conviction definitive. It had already rejected his appeal this month.

Bolsonaro, 70, was sentenced in September to 27 years and three months in prison for plotting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

He had been kept under house arrest for more than 100 days in Brasilia for violating precautionary measures in a separate case over allegedly courting the United States’ interference on his behalf.

In a custody hearing on Sunday, Bolsonaro denied any intent to escape or try to remove the ankle monitor, attributing his behavior to a mix of anticonvulsant drugs prescribed by different doctors for his chronic hiccups, which led him to imagine there was listening equipment inside the tracking device.

Bolsonaro has been under house arrest since August. Supporters and detractors of the former president have taken to the streets in several Brazilian cities since the news of his incarceration broke on Saturday.

On a rainy Monday in Brasilia, few demonstrators appeared in front of the federal police headquarters. As some drove by, they honked, either shouting insults at Bolsonaro or showing support for Lula.

As lawmakers started coming back to the city for what is likely to be a busy and tense week, one of the sons of the former president, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, told journalists he will keep pushing for an amnesty bill for his father — a move that has lost steam over the last few months.

“We will do this all over 2026,” said Flávio Bolsonaro, who is also a presidential hopeful in next year’s presidential election. Other right-leaning politicians would rather have a candidate outside of the family, such as Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.