Former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro described damage to his electronic ankle bracelet as accompanied by medication-induced hallucinations and denied any intention to flee. “The witness (Bolsonaro) explained that he had a “hallucination” that his ankle bracelet was being tapped so he tried to open the cover,” news portal “G1” quoted the minutes of the trial.
The former president was arrested on Saturday morning (local time) as a precautionary measure after an alarm on a surveillance device indicated possible manipulation. In a video later released by the court, he admitted to working on the device with a soldering iron – “out of curiosity,” he said. Photos show the anklet’s plastic casing was charred.
Bolsonaro: “A certain paranoia” is growing
According to the court, the 70-year-old man stated that he experienced a “certain paranoia” as a result of the treatment and the manipulation began shortly after midnight. After that he “came back to his senses” and stopped. There was no cutting of the shackles and Bolsonaro also denied any intention to flee.
Preventive detention was ordered by Chief Judge Alexandre de Moraes. The reasons he cited included damage to surveillance and vigilance devices in front of Bolsonaro’s house, which were requested by his son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. The judge ruled that possible chaos could make it more difficult to control house arrest and make it easier to escape. Bolsonaro reportedly said the cordon was 700 meters away, so there was no chance of escape.
Bolsonaro was recently placed under house arrest for violating court conditions. This preventive detention is not part of the execution of his attempted coup sentence, for which he was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison in September. The decision is not final and enforcement is expected to take place next week.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251123-930-331549/1
