Brasília [Brazil], November 24: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Sunday he experienced a medicine-induced "paranoia" that led him to tamper with his electronic ankle monitor, a document seen by Reuters showed, one day after the federal police took him into custody as a potential flight risk.
On Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the detention of the former right-wing leader ahead of a planned supporters' vigil outside his home, which the judge said could undermine police monitoring of his house arrest. He also noted a police report that Bolsonaro's ankle monitor was violated.
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In a 30-minute custody hearing following his detention, Bolsonaro denied any intent to escape house arrest or attempt to remove the equipment, the document showed, as he said he had a "hallucination" that there was a wire inside the monitor.
Bolsonaro told the judge that the mix of medicines prescribed by different doctors led to the episode. He said he began taking one of them only four days before his detention on Saturday morning.
The former president said he was alone during the episode, as everyone present in the house - his daughter, his older brother and an adviser - was asleep at the time.
"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 in charge of his custody," the document showed.
The planned vigil outside Bolsonaro's house, organized by his older son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, would be no threat to his detention, the former president argued, as it would occur 700 meters (2,297 feet) from his home.
The judge overseeing the hearing decided to maintain police custody as all legal rules were followed during the former president's arrest.
A separate document showed on Saturday that officials received an alert about a possible breach of Bolsonaro's ankle monitor, while police officers at his residence found the device with "clear and significant damage" and burn marks.
'It is one that everybody could agree to in the end, and that's what the UN process has to do.
COUP CONVICTION AND DETENTION
Bolsonaro 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 was kept under house arrest for more than 100 days in Brasilia for violating precautionary measures in a separate case over allegedly courting U.S. interference to halt the criminal case against him.
Bolsonaro is currently detained in a small holding cell in a federal police station, with a single bed, a television, air conditioning and a bathroom.
He received a visit from his wife, the former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, earlier on Sunday, with a doctor and one of his lawyers also paying visits in the morning. Michelle Bolsonaro was not in Brasilia when the arrest happened.
BACKERS SEE POLITICAL PERSECUTION
Supporters of the former president waved banners and flags outside the station where he is being held.
"(He's) a person who hasn't committed any crime. It's simply a political persecution," Alessandro Almeida, a supporter, said.
"They left it to arrest on the 22nd to show the world it's exactly nothing more than a political persecution," he added, in reference to Bolsonaro's Liberal Party's use of 22 as their identification number in Brazilian federal and local elections.
Justice de Moraes has been a primary target of criticism over the legal proceedings against Bolsonaro, as he oversaw the former president's coup trial last month and also heads the separate case involving potential U.S. interference.
"You, Moraes, are, guilty. We are not scared of you, we're here to defend our Bolsonaro, who's an honest man, a man with character and a family, as opposed to you, who are corrupt thieves," Elaine Maria, another supporter, said.
Lula defended the Supreme Court on Sunday in response to reporters' questions while at the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
"(The Supreme Court) made a decision. He was tried and had every right to the presumption of innocence," the president told reporters. "He will serve the sentence that the court has determined, and everyone knows what he did."
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
