The First Panel of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) unanimously confirmed, on Monday, the 24th, Minister Alexandre de Moraes’ decision ordering the preventive detention of Jair Bolsonaro following the destruction of his electronic ankle monitor and evidence of an escape attempt.
The news was published by the newspaper Estado de S. Paulo, which detailed the behind-the-scenes of the arrest, the custody hearing, and the next steps in the process related to the coup plot.
Bolsonaro has been detained since Saturday, the 22nd, at the Federal Police headquarters in Brasília. His detention was upheld after a custody hearing held on Sunday, the 23rd.
Flight risk and the burning of the ankle monitor motivated the arrest. According to the newspaper, Moraes ordered the preventive detention after Senator Flávio Bolsonaro called supporters for a vigil in front of the condominium where his father was serving house arrest.
In the early hours of Saturday, Bolsonaro burned his electronic ankle monitor, a fact he confirmed to an agent from the Distrito Federal Penitentiary Administration Secretariat.
In his custody hearing, Bolsonaro attributed the episode to “paranoia” and “hallucination.”
The defense argued before the Supreme Court that, despite the damage to the equipment, the former president did not remove the ankle monitor and had no intention of fleeing. The legal team requested that Bolsonaro return to house arrest for humanitarian reasons, citing health problems. Moraes has not yet analyzed the request.
Medical report cites “mental confusion”
The lawyers also attached a medical report stating that Bolsonaro spent the first night at the Federal Police headquarters without incidents.
The professionals recorded that the former president exhibited “mental confusion,” supposedly caused by medication previously prescribed by another healthcare professional.
The process is in its final phase and the detention may become definitive. The First Panel’s analysis does not alter the course of the main process. Bolsonaro has already been sentenced to 27 years and 3 months in prison for his participation in the coup plot.
After the rejection of the defense’s first embargos of declaration, the deadline for the so-called “infringement embargos” ends this Monday.
Based on Supreme Court jurisprudence, Moraes can, starting Tuesday, decide whether to consider the new appeals dilatory. If he does so, he may declare res judicata and convert the preventive detention into definitive imprisonment for the start of sentence fulfillment.
The monocratic decision may later be submitted to a vote by the other ministers of the First Panel.
Debate over infringement embargos
Some experts cited by the newspaper believe it would be necessary to wait for the deadline for the so-called dissenting votes, which ends on Friday, the 28th. This appeal is usually admitted when there are at least two divergent votes, which did not occur in Bolsonaro’s case.
Even so, the defense indicated that it will try to present the request based on the Court’s internal regulations, which do not specify a minimum number of votes.
Other defendants in the coup plot nucleus
In addition to Bolsonaro, another defendant remains in preventive detention: Walter Braga Netto, detained since December last year. With res judicata, he would also be subject to a definitive sentence.
The other defendants are:
• Alexandre Ramagem, who left Brazil and is now in Florida.
• Almir Garnier, former Navy commander.
• Anderson Torres, former Justice Minister.
• Augusto Heleno, former GSI Minister (Institutional Security Office).
• Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, former Defense Minister.
• Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp to Bolsonaro, who did not appeal and is already serving his sentence.
Source: brasil247.com