Ex-Brazilian President Bolsonaro Claims Hallucinations From Hiccup Medication Made Him Tamper With Ankle Bracelet
EVARISTO SA/AFP
Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro told a judge on Sunday that medication prescribed for his chronic hiccups brought on hallucinations, causing him to tamper with his ankle monitor.
Bolsonaro was removed from his house arrest and placed in detention on Saturday after police received alerts that the former president’s tracking device had been tampered with.
After over 100 days under house arrest, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro’s detention, citing a potential flight risk ahead of a vigil planned by Bolsonaro’s oldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, set to be held outside of Bolsonaro’s home.
“The tumult caused by an illegal gathering of the convict’s supporters has a strong chance of putting at risk the house arrest and other precautionary measures, allowing for his eventual escape,” Moraes wrote in his decision, seen by Reuters.
In a 30-minute custody hearing in Brasília on Sunday, Bolsonaro denied any intent to escape, despite admitting to using a soldering iron on his ankle monitor. A video showing the damage to the monitor was released by Brazilian authorities on Saturday.
Bolsonaro and his legal team claimed that a mixture of anticonvulsant drugs prescribed for his chronic hiccups led him to imagine there was listening equipment inside the tracking device.
“The witness stated that, around midnight, he tampered with the ankle bracelet, then ‘came to his senses’ and stopped using the soldering iron, at which point he informed the officers guarding him,” reads the court document.
The judge overseeing the Sunday hearing chose to keep Bolsonaro in custody. His case will be considered by a panel of Supreme Court judges on Monday.
Bolsonaro, who served as Brazil’s president from 2019-2022, was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September after he was convicted of plotting a coup aimed at preventing current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office in 2023.
The former president was held under house arrest after Judge de Moraes issued an arrest warrant citing to a failure to comply with restraining orders he had previously imposed on Bolsonaro for allegedly attempting to get President Donald Trump to interfere in the coup case.
Trump has been a vocal supporter of Bolsonaro. In July, Trump issued a 50% tariff against Brazil, citing “the way Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro” and calling it an “international disgrace.” The State Department has also placed sanctions on Judge de Moreas and his wife.
Though the president partially rolled back those tariffs in November, his administration has continued to condemn the legal proceedings against Bolsonaro.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau spoke out against Bolsonaro’s most recent arrest on Saturday, posting on X that the detention flouted “traditional norms of judicial restraint and brazenly politicizing the judicial process.”
“Justice Moraes, a sanctioned human rights abuser, has brought Brazil’s Supreme Court into international disrepute and shame by flouting traditional norms of judicial restraint and brazenly politicizing the judicial process,” he wrote. “The US is gravely concerned by his latest attack on the rule of law and political stability in Brazil: the provocative and unnecessary incarceration of former President Bolsonaro, who was already under house arrest under heavy guard and extreme limitations on communication. There is nothing more dangerous to democracy than a judge who knows no limits on his power.”
Trump was asked about Bolsonaro’s arrest outside the White House on Saturday. He told reporters he was unaware of the former president’s detention.
“Is that what happened? That’s too bad,” he said.
He told reporters he spoke with President de Silva on Friday, and that the two leaders may meet “in the very near future.”
