Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he tried to burn his electronic bracelet in a moment of “paranoia”

The unpredictable former right-wing leader was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September for an attempted coup aimed at preventing the return to power of his left-wing rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been under house arrest for several months, admitted on Sunday, November 23, to having used a soldering iron on his electronic bracelet at the time. “paranoia”said the Supreme Court in documents obtained by AFP.

The unpredictable former far-right leader (2019-2022) was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September for an attempted coup aimed at preventing the return to power of his left-wing rival, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated him in the October 2022 presidential election.

Taken early Saturday to a federal police station in Brasilia, Jair Bolsonaro, 70, has been under house arrest and electronic monitoring since August as part of an investigation into alleged obstruction of his trial. He says “felt a certain paranoia between Friday and Saturday due to the medication (…) and then decided, with a soldering iron, to manipulate the electronic bracelet”according to Court documents.

During an audience on Sunday in Brasilia, the former president assured that he had done just that “hallucinations” who he said had a listening device on the bracelet, detailed his report. Jair Bolsonaro also said “that he had no intention of running away and that there was no break in his tether” the bracelet, according to the document.